Ushujua Kwa Uhai- Courage for Life

Thursday night was our first talent show night that we organized. Michelle and I have been working with a local drama group here and they prepared some skits, as well as raps, dances, and songs all with a focus around HIV/AIDS awareness. This talent shows theme was Testing. With a slow turnout in the beginning, approx 100 people were in the audience, Marco ( our local project coordinator) got things rolling with him being the head MC. I would guess that near the end there was about 300 people in the audience. Three girls went on stage to perform talents which we were super excited about because female participation is a huge challenge here in Tanzania. Habibu and George, new friends I have made who are also in the drama group, were my translators for the event. I was in charge of condom distribution and demonstrations. So lets just say, I am officially a condom expert now. It was amazing to see how many people had no idea how to use a condom, or what they even were for that matter. I demonstrated the correct 12 step procedure I would say at least 15 times to probably a crowd of at least 150 people combined. Many people did not even know what it was used for, here are some of the questions I received: What does it protect from? Can I wash it and use it again? Do I wear it all day? What kind of air is in that package that makes it kill sperm? And so on... now you can see the lack of education that east africa faces. Everyone was eager to learn so I was excited to be demonstrating... at times, people were so anxious that they would actually push and shove eachother just to get closer. Thank goodness Habibu and George were there because I would have been trampled for sure!