We will, we will, SMASH AIDS

We will, we will, SMASH AIDS!

Yes, that is my attempt to re-write some classic Queen lyrics – but I promise that creativity didn't originate with me (cough Phil cough). Basically, I want to tell you a story about how the Bibemi cluster and Caitlyn battled AIDS one week in September.

This project was born back in March when Caitlyn came to visit Bibemi for the first time. We were sitting at a bar in Bibemi (like you do) and talking about work and Caitlyn's host NGO EFA (Education Fights AIDS for those of you who don't already know – but you should know). Caitlyn mentioned that she had done a VAST (volunteer activities, support, and training) project to train a number of people who were infected or affected by HIV/AIDS to be peer educators. Phil, Mike and I had just completed my one-day AIDS seminar where we had educated about 25 local Bibemians about HIV/AIDS prevention, transmission, and brought in a HIV sero-positive person from Garoua to give a testimonial. So, yes, AIDS were on our minds.

I don't know about where you live but here in Bibemi (as well as in Adoumri) people don't talk about AIDS. There aren't AIDS tests, there aren't organizations of people who are willing to admit they are sero-positive, there are basically no resources or information about AIDS whatsoever. I assume that is fairly similar to other volunteer posts in Cameroon. Back to that day in March at the bar, Phil and Caitlyn (with a little help from Mike and I) came to the brilliant conclusion that we should bring Caitltyn's trained peer educators to Bibemi and Adourmi to do a door-to-door AIDS education campaign. Thus our VAST project was born. Phil was busy doing his Peace Corps Partnership project and building two classrooms at his local middle school SO I got to be in charge of this project. It isn't too hard to get funding for AIDS related projects and PEPFAR/VAST funded the whole thing.

Just last month, our door-to-door campaign happened. We brought 14 peer educators from the Extreme North to Bibemi and Adourmi and together they talked to circa 4000 people (in a health district of about 20,000) about HIV/AIDS over the course of two days (one in each village). Feel free to be impressed, I sure was. Now don't get me wrong, it didn't just happen like that. We had many different problems we encountered BUT in the end, it was successful.

First, where do you lodge 14 people in a town without an Auberge? Well, Mike and I didn't really know. We came up with literally five different plans and we kept changing our minds about which option we thought was the best – sleeping in a classroom at the Lycee, housing them with members of our tantine (who happen to be professors at the Lycee), house them with COSA members, house them at the Delegate du Elevage's extra room, or try to house them at the vacant house on the hospital grounds. We went with that last option which funnily enough we only learned of during one of our protocol meetings with the doctor. He is corrupt about money BUT he always supports Mike and I in our projects. He got mad that he didn't get to “eat his part of the budget” but we didn't offer us that house free of charge. You win some, you lose some.

Problem two, what do they sleep on? Well, the NGO that basically founded Bibemi left a giant magazine of stuff and in this magazine are a bunch of foam mats. So, we went and counted them – amazingly there were exactly 14! It was meant to be. From there, we collected mats and sheets from us volunteers and community members.

Problem three, we made a protocol faux-paus. Somehow in the confusion of things Mike and I remembered to talk to all the grands in town about our project but we forgot to talk to the little grands. We were literally sitting at the bar (again, like you do in Bibemi) the NIGHT BEFORE the project started and we were drinking and talking about the project with Mike's counterpart and his brother. They asked if we had gone around and talked to all the heads of the neighborhoods about bringing these peer educators to their neighborhoods tomorrow. We hadn't. We had talked to the head of the district, the mayor, the head of the hospital, the head of the health center, the head of the Lycee, etc but we hadn't even thoughts about these neighborhood grands. Woops. So, early the next morning before we started with our peer educators, Mike's counterpart, his brother, and Mike all went around and talked to them. Crisis averted.

Despite all these hurdles we had to jump, we did the door-to-door campaign and 4000 people got talked to about AIDS. Done and done. Our last big project as Peace Corps volunteers was an AIDS smashing success. Man, we rock.