World AIDS Day

So, World AIDS Day could have gone better.  The event was a success in that people were tested for HIV, and now there are a lot of people who know their status and can take the steps necessary to maintain their health and prevent further infection.  The North West Region of Cameroon has one of the highest infection rates in the country, and knowledge of status is a hugely important step toward changing this fact.  The free testing was supposed to go on for five hours, but nothing could happen until the “important” people showed up – including representatives of our own embassy.  These “important” people came an hour late – an hour when no testing could happen – and then spent another hour and a half making speeches to each other – two and a half out of five hours of no testing, when that was the entire purpose of the day, so that these officials could posture for each other.  Way to set priorities, folks!

The day’s events were entirely organized and spearheaded by several local NGOs, which was a good thing to see, though it made Peace Corps’ presence a bit superfluous.  The biggest contribution we made was to hand out free condoms, which just turned into an absolute mess – two volunteers absolutely mobbed by scores of motorcycle taxi drivers and high school boys, shoving, grabbing, lying to try to get more.  You’d have thought we were handing out $100 bills – and condoms are easily affordable on the average Cameroonian income.  Next year we’ll aim to bring something new to the table.