Kerry's Trip, 2005
PERSONAL STATEMENT
P. Kerry Brewer
Of the over 42 million people in the world living with AIDS, 2/3rds of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Staggering statistics such as these sparked my interest in further researching the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Last semester I took an independent study to learn more about the reasons behind the rapid increase in the numbers infected, and the treatment programs being implemented. Though I knew of the situation of this disease in 3rd world countries beforehand, I had no idea of the severity of the problem. Conditions such as poverty, gender and racial inequality, and cultural norms serve to facilitate the rapid spread of AIDS. Programs such as Global Service Corps that emphasize mobilizing the entire community to change social and cultural contexts to ones that support healthy behavior are the most effective way to approach the AIDS epidemic.
Global Service Corps is project of Earth Island Institute, a non-profit organization that has programs in 36 countries. Since 2001, GSC has utilized volunteer participants to inform community members and students from secondary schools about AIDS and how it is spread and then teaches them skills to educate their peers. GSC strives to collectively empowers the community to resist the conditions that foster the breeding of AIDS and enables individuals to make rational healthy choices. The session in which I will be participating starts June 6th and continues for 28 days in Arusha, Tanzania. The first week includes training and collaboration with local teachers and program leaders to develop an interactive curriculum for the day camp carried out in 3 schools in the Arusha area. As a camp leader/counselor I will teach students about relationships, sexuality, and AIDS in a fun, creative, and ultimately sustainable manner. GSC trains a group of motivated students at the camp so that they can continue to educate the community and their peers. A safe, healthy environment will be established that facilitates discussion of the disease among students and reduces the stigma associated with AIDS within the community.
I am choosing to spend my time and efforts this summer volunteering in Africa because I feel passionate about this topic and I believe in the approach taken by Global Service Corps to help ameliorate this epidemic. I think that participating in the program is a way that I could truly make a difference. In the town that was the focus of my research last semester, 35% of men and 68% of women under the age of 25 were HIV positive. Contracting AIDS is so easily preventable. If I can change the behavior and mindset of just one young person, I am potentially saving a life and beginning to lower the rates that are infected. In addition, I am excited about the opportunity to learn from this unique nation that is economically and culturally quite different from mine. I will stay with a Tanzanian family and look forward to the frustrations and triumphs of interacting with them along with others in the community. I hope to come away from the program feeling like I had a lasting effect on those I meet, that I learn more about myself, and come back to the United States with experiences that will make me better equipped to serve those in my own community.