Leaves, bugs, warm weather, and sunshine
Last week I attended a training seminar on how to implement a community project to combat the spread of HIV AIDS.
I will get to observe an older pc volunteer implement his own project in neighboring community before I attempt my own.
It is amazing to see how different organizations work together to improve a very scary situation in Ukraine.
Learning how to do a community project is also enlightening. Obviously, community participation and action is essential. Therefore, a lot of work must be done to set up any project, surveying exactly what the community wants and needs, and then creating motivation, interest and potential to fulfill when the actual project kicks off.
The particular conference I attended with one of my school's biology/"safe life" teachers was organized by PC and conducted by the All Ukraine Alliance for people living with HIV/Aids and funded by the US PEPFAR project. My school already teaches about the biology of infectious diseases, but has absolutely no sexual education. We'll see what I can do to combine these important topics.
I am motivated and excited to get started on all of the things that I plan to do while using teaching English as an excuse to be here. Not that I don't enjoy teaching English, but many of my students do not need to know it, are not motivated, and there are some very good english teachers already teaching in Ukraine.
Well, this is Easter weekend, and the holidays stretch into next week. Not sure how many days I have off school, but plan on getting a little camping in early next week. Tomorrow I'm going to a Ukrainian professional soccer match, the strongest team in the country ("Shoktar")is playing the Lviv team ("Karpaty"). I guess I'll cheer for the home team, even though I think they're going to get crushed.
I was really re-energized not only by the aids conference, but by the Haverford alumni magazine my dad sent me, where I am reminded that great things are expected and regularly completed by my peers. The world can be improved, one village at a time, infectious diseases are an easy target, and my community will be well educated by the time I leave.
Random notes: Dying eggs requires white eggs and food coloring...?
I tried brown eggs with onion skins for yellow, beats for red, and iodine for brown, oh wait, the eggs were already brown.
When there's no teaching, I have alot of time on my hands...
