Then on Saturday we had “real” Thanksgiving because we had time to cook during the day. A few other volunteers came and we cooked together. A turkey was slaughtered, Helen and I worked on a pumpkin pie, apple pie, and I made pumpkin soup. We also had green beans, creamed corn and mac & cheese again, stuffing, mashed potatoes, canned cranberry sauce that I had found in Nakumatt a few months ago and had saved, and a pineapple crumble-type dessert. I was most proud of the pumpkin pie, since we made it from scratch: no pre-made crusts, no filling from a can. We cut the pumpkin, dug out the guts, peeled it, boiled it, mashed it, made the filling, made the crust, then baked it. Sooo good.
Cooking in Kenya makes me appreciate food so much more because of how much more of an effort it takes to cook it. Thanksgiving was great and easier than last year since we had access to an oven. I’m still pretty amazed that we cooked a turkey in a jiko oven (a pot inside a pot with sand) over firewood last year.
So I have been busy the past few weeks running around organizing things for the World AIDS Day tournament Helen and I put on with my organization. First, some facts about HIV/AIDS in my area. Nyanza, the province where I live has the highest HIV prevalence in the country at 14.9% (according to the 2009 KAIS). The district I live in has a prevalence of 16%. People have speculated to why Nyanza has such a higher rate than the rest of the country and part of it may be because Luos, the predominant tribe in Nyanza, don't traditionally circumcise boys/men whereas other tribes in the country do. Studies have been done and if a man is circumcised he is 60% less likely to get HIV. Therefore, there are all kinds of campaigns in Luo areas to circumcise. Many of the young men have started getting circumcised before they go away to school for fear of being ridiculed by other tribes who are circumcised. Some tribes look down on people who aren't circumcised. I heard from a friend who was here during the post-election violence, where tribal violence was bad, and he said vehicles were pulled over on the road and men were forced to pull down their pants and if they weren't circumcised, they were shot. Ok sorry went off on a tangent there.
Wednesday (December 1st) was the big day and it went very well. We had 4 teams playing (2 from my region, 1 from Helen’s region, and 1 from an area farther away) in a soccer tournament. Each team donated two tin pales of beans towards their lunch and a local supermarket donated the rest of the food materials including 25kg of rice! We had agreed in a meeting that the teams would have to come on time or forfeit their match, because we had a schedule and various games to be played and we didn’t want the day to go late.
So, on Wednesday we started at 6:45AM when we took all the things from the office like a donated public address system, a donated generator, the beans, a donated tent, prizes, etc and brought them to the field/school where we were having the event. We had a banner at the road to announce the event and we had transportation to get all the equipment and two of the teams who lived too far to walk. We told the teams they needed to be at the field at 9AM to start warming up and the first match would be Kirongo vs Mang’ang’a starting at 10AM. The Mang’ang’a team, even though they live the closest and were walking to the event, was nowhere to be found. We called them multiple times and by the time 10:15AM rolled around we decided to have them forefeit to show them they needed to be serious about time-keeping. There were a few players trickling in but the whole team didn’t show up until 11. We started the second match instead, which went very well.
While the matches were going on we had various organizations and companies set up tents to advertise/sensitize the community. Nyanza Reproductive Health Society is doing a male circumcision campaign in our area so they set up shop in a classroom and circumcised 12 guys. We're trying to help them mobilize other groups in the community because if a man is circumcised he is 60% less likely to get HIV. We also had 3 counselors doing counseling and testing for HIV and 50 people were tested. KCB, a bank in Oyugis, came and 7 people set up bank accounts and others asked them questions about banking. Kenya Women Finance Trust, an organization that gives loans to women, recruited the women in attendance. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports came and told people about their activities in Oyugis. An organization working on fighting deforestation came to talk to people. One of our women’s groups came with their alternative nutrition recipes and sold their food to the crowd while sensitizing them about the nutritious value of amaranth. Another lady from a youth group we work with sold fruit salad to people.
There were also two groups that did skits during the half-times of the games about the importance of male circumcision and getting tested. We also distributed 1,600 condoms and did a condom demonstration. There were about 300 people there by the time the championship game was going on. Assisi won the tournament and we gave them a trophy/cup to be defended in future World AIDS Day tournaments. I was so happy that things worked out even though the day started out slowly and with a few minor problems.
The most disappointing thing was that our banner was stolen. We think someone or some people took it on their way out while we were busy cleaning up. I don’t even know what someone would do with our banner. I’m just hoping we can ask around and find it. Despite the banner being stolen, the event was definitely a success.
Championship Game
Helen and I with the banner
The crowd watching a skit about male circumcision
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