7/31/10 HIV Clinic, First time on a motorcycle, and Samaki Bar festivities

This morning Melody and I went to an HIV testing event for children of positive parents. It was so interesting, I didn’t realize that there is a rapid test kit where a drop of blood is placed on a plastic reader and in 10 minutes the test shows whether the blood contains HIV 1 or 2 antigens. We were only there for a brief while. By the time we got there, they event had registered 72 children and two had . tested positive for HIV. One little girl in a pretty pink dress was one of them. She was about 7 years old and was smiling not realizing entirely what was happening. Her mother did not seem to react to the news, probably because she knew that the HIV status could be passed to her daughter. I was a bit sad looking at this beautiful young girl and trying to imagine the hardships that will inevitably come her way in the future. Having HIV is associated with a negative stigma here as it is in most places around the world. I wondered how the girl will continue through school, stay healthy, get married and raise a family. In Tanzania, I do feel there is hope. For one, the testing makes her HIV positive status known so that she may start treatment. The government apparently pays for all HIV treatment for adults and children as well as follow up with a dozen of educational classes. I know like in the past, I definitely want to get involved with HIV/AIDS work again…maybe prevention or health education on how to manage the disease.

Later on that day, we decided to ride piki pikis (motorcycles) to Obwere where the main market area is to get some clothes made. That was my first time on a motorcycle and it was cool. The ride saved us about 40 minutes of walking and cost 500 shillings which is about 30 cents. Once in Obwere, we were looking around at mattresses and bed frames to buy Babou and were being severely ripped off. We found 2 seamstresses and bought fabric so that they could make us traditional African clothes or whatever we wanted.

After all this shopping, it was soccer time. There were not as many students here as on weekdays, but there were still a few people. Since I really wanted cones to try to create drills or create makeshift goals, I took our large Dasani bottles and filled them with rocks and dirt which surprisingly made an awesome cone. None of the girl were here this time, but we did play with the local high school aged boys. We did some small scrimmaging but had a great time. When dinner time rolled around, we went to Dr. Magati’s house to celebrate David’s birthday who is a Dutch medical student. He apparently had a sheep killed earlier today and it was quite delicious. After the birthday party, we all went out to the bar. Tonight was a crowded Saturday night at the Samaki bar. The Serengeti beer company was hosting music and having a beer special. So the music comes on and all the men go to dance. They are like shaking their hips and booty much like how girls would dance in other places. The women actually sat at table. It was just literally men dancing all night on the dance floor which was hilarious.