Carrie and I went to the Student Health Engagement session and it was very interesting. A lot of the students were working on AIDS-related issues:
- AIDS awareness through soccer/sport: this raised an important point about the target group of such outreaches - ie. most soccer players are male, but the AIDS incidence is higher in females)
- AIDS in the transvestite community in India: Indian society does not recognize these transvestites, consequently, they turn to prostitution etc. for livelihood and spread AIDS. India also doesn't recognize AIDS all that much. Thus, they fail to recognize AIDS and one of the sources of its perpetuation
We discussed the gender dynamics of AIDS. In particular, in a lot of countries such as India, women have no power to even tell their husbands to use a condom. Thus they contract AIDS, and pass it onto their children (in India there is also a big negative stigma about being childless), and eventually the parents die and the child is left an orphan.
Also, in many African countries there are myths that if you are infected and have sex with a virgin, you are not only cured but also protected against future AIDS infections.
One of the takeaways here is that gender behaviors need to be shifted, and the importance of engaging men in discussions about AIDS and health.
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What I really enjoyed about our trip to Belize was the diversity of experiences that we had there. We did everything from caving, to swimming, to painting, to talking with kids about AIDS. It was awesome to see such a wide array of lifestyles and have such a wide array of experiences in one week.
I think this trip was the perfect way to spend Spring Break because not only did I get to meet a bunch of cool people from Belize and Rotaract, I also got to make a difference in the world. Further, I had a great time.
One thing I contemplate, though, is how much of an influence my actions had. I would like to go back to Belize in a year and visit the Aids-infected family whose house we painted, or the children who we spoke to about AIDS and see how much of our message resonated. My hope is that because of the many ways that our group addressed AIDS we'd have some sort of lasting impact.
I guess we can only hope.
TJH
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