Warm September

PIASCY Workshop, Teachers playing "Pat On the Back" game
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Shout out to my Ugandan amigos. I hope your job and your day are going fairly if not very well. You are doing Great things! And I’m glad we’re friends.
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Last week I helped give a teacher’s workshop on The Presidential Initiative for Aids Strategy and Communication to the Youth (PIASCY.) It’s a program that began a few years ago to educate primary and secondary students on HIV/AIDS. There are PIASCY clubs that perform dramas about peer pressure, how to say no and reducing stigmatization against anyone who is positive. The program encourages schools to have signs and murals around the campus that warn of the dangers of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections. PIASCY also promotes Life Skills education alongside the usual curriculum. Life Skills is an education program that Peace Corps volunteers also work with in most every country they work in. Life Skills education is based on the idea that we all have the knowledge to make good decisions. But how do we use the knowledge that we already have to get to a positive and healthy lifestyle?

That’s where Life Skills come in handy; we all need to learn how to be assertive, confident, critical thinkers, goal setters, responsible, and possess self esteem, self respect etc. Peace Corps has a comprehensive and detailed program outline that can be tailored to meet the age group or specific need of a Life Skills group. These clubs play games, role play, debate and discuss to learn more about themselves and the options they have in life.

I’m in the very beginning stages of Life Skills clubs at different primary schools. We’re trying to figure out how and when to run them, how teachers and I will share responsibility and what the students are most at risk for. The more I learn about Life Skills, the more I think we should have them in America or in my neighborhood in Dallas anyway. I think the teachers i‘ve had are great motivators and advocates for our individual personalities and talents. But the amount of “poor decisions(like the high STI rate)” seems to say that’s something’s missing and maybe that’s more of a focus on life skills.
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I am doing well and am safe and sound here in my small, quiet community. Have I ever told you guys that I live in a community of schools? I live next to a great University that specializes in education (meaning access to resources on pedagogy in Africa!) 3 technical schools (art, catering, electrical and building), two secondary schools, 4 primary schools and a seminary.
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Early Happy Birthday wishes go to my dear mom and my dear friend sandrita. I wish I could be there to sing las mananitas and shower you with hugs and kisses. You are in my thoughts and prayers and I love you a lot, even though I’m 14 inches away.
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Thank you for writing about guilt. It’s changed the way I think about myself and my “job” in Uganda and anywhere else. I’m going to try to do my best (hard enough without adding complicated emotions to it) and be loving to people I know and to people I meet. Easier said than done right? I’ll keep looking up and out!