meetings and planning

ok i haven't written in a while because I've actually been busy! yay! I really like life here in Kedougou. It's a really laid-back town with all of the big-town conveniences.

I've been in meetings for six of the last seven days. The seventh day I attended the inauguration of the blood bank at the region's hospital (where I've been spending a lot of time [for work]) and then visited a village where they mine for gold. It was a big to-do with the minister of women in attendance as well as many other big wigs from USAID and Family Health international. It was interesting to actually visit a site and see how they mine for gold, since gold is the reason there is a big AIDS problem here in Kedougou.

Three days I was in meetings with an NGO that wants to do more projects down here. And then for another three days I was in a meeting with lots of government officials, NGO workers and private sector partners creating the regional council for the fight against AIDS. IT was interesting but like many meetings in west Africa lacked some direction, a lot of it could have taken place outside the meeting and then presented at the meeting... it's been a long week... and it's still going...

We're in the process of planning something for World AIDS day (Dec 1) although I am becoming increasingly unsure as to whether this will take place or not because no money has been found yet. Hopefully I'll have a better idea tomorrow. What we are planning is a march through town with youth groups leading to a central place near town with lots of music and informational booths, rapid testing, condom demonstrations etc.. followed by a rap-contest (rapping AIDS-themed of course)! Anyway it would be a really good way to raise awareness amongst youth here. So if you know anyone out there want to sponsor a small relatively cheap (~$1000) World AIDS Day event let me know!

And I really tried to put up pics today but they were not going through, the internet sucks here. I saw a sign the other day for internet connections in the home. i bet it's expensive though, I'll check it out.