just two days..and already so much

if you are going to hit the road.. you better do it running right?! well i have been told that once or twice...to hit the road running.. and rwanda would be no exception.
I got to HDI yesterday and picked the brain of Aflodis. which i have to tell you all about their (HDI) work. I am in awe.
HDI is comprised of the following team members: Aflodis (Head of HLI, Medical Doctor), Louise and Patrick (office assistant and accountant), Olivia and Claude (field workers), Dan (Medical Doctor), Kate (an american ..helping with grant writing).
They have four major focuses:
-Community of Health Projects (The pygmy project is under this umbrella)
-Maternal and Child Health
-Medical/Technical Support
-Advocacy and Policy Monitoring

Their projects range from awareness of prenatal care, training local doctors, to using practical experience to help with advocacy.

Karl and Bob just arrived.. so i will cut this short.. we are going to meet with Aflodis.

okay.. write more in a few hours.. but seriously. AMAZING. :) ohh and i took a bunch of pictures but can't upload them yet cause the internet is way too slow.

be back soon. xo.

love you,
Lizzie

okay and back now.. it's midnight now.. so i will see how far i get..

so they have four main areas..
but their passion is HIV/AIDS/TB work..which they do by bringing awareness and education to the masses and to create policies to ensure access to health and community.

You may or may not know.. but last November Rwanda was considering banning LGBTQI, and making homosexuality illegal. Other East African countries, like Burundi passed such legislation. In Rwanda, Aflodis was contacted and made aware of such proposed legislation, article 217. Aflodis, (his full name Dr. Kagaba Aflodis) joined forces with Rwanda NGO Forums on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion and 40 other NGOs to form "THE CIVIL SOCIETY". The civil society wrote (mainly written by Aflodis) a petition to the government entitled "Safeguarding rights of sexual minorities through a protective penal code: A Civil Society Position Paper on the Draft Penal Code". Here they claimed that Article 217 is contradictory to Rwandan Constitution (after the genocide Rwandan government priority is inclusiveness), a violation of human rights and gender equality, a hindrance to the implementation of the Rwandan National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS 2009-2012. They later make the point that if you target homosexualities, then those in this population that is infected with HIV/AIDS will not get treatment and the disease will continue to propagate. (I won't get into all the legal stuff.. but i have a copy of it)..anyway.. the committee sent it to the president and lobbied in the parliament and senate.
outcome= in January 2010, the government made a claim that there was no such article ever discussed. Denying any such earlier conversations on the matter, etc. :) The government dismissed the article and HDI had a huge success. well let's be honest.. the human population had a huge success.
So now they are moving in to getting sexual workers from being criminalized. There is a proposed article that is making it's way into the senate that would criminalize or fine anyone who is found to be a sex worker. This is a population with a disproportionate high level of HIV/AIDS. Criminalizing sex workers will not make sex workers disappear. To treat them, they will need to be able to tell doctors and other health workers of their profession to get adequate care. I am not sure all the arguments, but it is again based on HIV/AIDS treatment and availability to at risk populations.
Another area they want to get into is legislation on condom distribution to prisoners. Prisoners have a higher proportion of HIV/AIDS and unprotected sex (they are not allowed to have sex in prisons and access to condoms are denied..however, it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen). So instead of ignoring the problems, address them, as most sentences in jail are about 6 months, people get infected in jails and bring the disease back in to the population. So jail becomes a breading ground for HIV/AIDS.

okay.. a lot of info huh...

well

today.. we went to a school. I walked in to a classroom full of students, and they were there as an after school club to discuss ..... HIV/AIDS. The kids would bring up questions, and they would debate them, with Aflodis able to give sounds medical answers when needed. Other doctors have paired with Aflodis to go around to schools and to engage kids in debate and dialogue about HIV/AIDS. I took pictures.. lots and lots of pictures. the internet is so slow that i can't upload any of them.. but this was such a great experience.


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man i can go on .. and on forever about my adventures in the last two days..
not only the info that i have learned about HDI, but the government, how it operates, how non profits operate, how change happens in this country.
most important thing though is I am learning humanity. Today i heard my first story about the genocide. Claude and i were walking and drinking apple juice (by the way -everyone drinks apple juice here.. i love it!!! -for those of you who don't know.. apple juice is my favorite) we had time before i had to go to the school, so he wanted to show me his house. We started walking and I asked him about his house, who he lived with. Earlier, we were in the market, and he introduced me to this lady, whom was his mothers good friend. I asked him about his mother, and he told me she had died in the genocide. I realized immediately as I looked around, how many people each on these people lost. I was humbled. Immediately. Knowing that I would never understand, nor relate, nor even grasp. When we were walking to his house, he told me about the genocide. He told me about the plane being shot down, and an hour later, people knocking on his door to see if his family was home. He was 13 years old. I listened to him in away i have never listened before. every word was powerful. Every word was unimaginable. I felt like I was incredibly lucky to be a witness to his story. I could try my best to retell it. but i fear i can't. not properly retell it. It is in my heart.
you look around Rwanda. This is a country of survivors. It is not trivial... their survival. The courage is unreal. You see this spirit in everything they do. They work like no one else i have encountered..with heart and passion and dedication.
~~~
Karl and I talked at length tonight. I was filling him in on what i know now about HDI our project in Bwiza, etc.
He reminded me that if we leave with just a trace of goodness and light in our foot steps then we have done all right here. It doesn't matter much of what we do then, cause we have done alright.

I love you very much!
Lizzie