It was a great weekend! Saturday gave me time to relax, clean my house, and read all day, which was nice. (Oh, and Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!) Sunday morning, another Volunteer and I picked up trash with about 15 students from the boarding school near my house for about 3 hours. It was a great opportunity to clean up the compound, spend some time with the kids involving them in a meaningful activity, and to talk to them about the importance of garbage collection.
It was interesting trying to explain the importance of not littering for the sake of animals’ well-being, though. How do you justify going out of your way to put a plastic bag in a pit in order to protect a random, wild animal when the majority of people could not care less about treating a dog well? We tried to find an example that would connect with the students’ lives…so I settled on goats, chicken, and cows because these animals are often kept for income generating purposes and food. I tried to explain how a chicken could accidentally eat a plastic bag and die, then how what would the students and their families eat for dinner and if they could not sell the poultry, how would they pay for school fees and such? They all nodded their head in agreement and (hopefully) understanding.
Picking up trash with the kids was also a good opportunity to dispel some myths about HIV transmission. It was made a point to clarify that HIV cannot be contracted through touching the garbage of someone who is living with HIV/AIDS. There are so many myths about HIV transmission and I hope that these few, short conversations will at least begin a dialogue between people and foster a greater understanding in hopes of gradually breaking down the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and furthering people’s empowerment in prevention.
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