csmcdermott:

Happy Friday!

• decorating the christmas bush outside with ribbon because everything else would get blown away or probably eaten. Also, this is my family’s “first tree” (guess I wasn’t feeling festive last year)
• shared homeland with the guys at the mairie

2nd goal is my favorite (bringing america to senegal)

watercollective:

Our Peace Corps partner Joe takes a quick break after hiking to our project’s catchment source at Souweh Hill. 

Happy Friday everyone!

So cute!

Sharing music by lamplight in Liberia 

One in Four

Children stand in front of a local store in a mountainous region of Swaziland—the country with the highest HIV rate in the world. One in every four people is infected with the virus, while everyone in this small country is affected. The children of Swaziland suffer the most, many losing their parents to the epidemic. But the children are also the future, empowered with knowledge and hope that the HIV epidemic can be conquered.

According to statistics, it is likely that at least one of the children in the photo has HIV.

Taken by Peace Corps Volunteer Ryan Fouss

The LAWRA YOUNGSTERS ASSOCIATION is an organization open to boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 24. The objectives of the Association are to educate youth, improve the community, train youth to become future leaders, to sensitize the youth against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, to organize HIV/AIDS clubs in various schools and to reduce the stigma against HIV/AIDS.

Marching is a long-standing tradition in Ghana since 1957 when Ghana gained its independence. Schools and community service organizations organize their students and members to spiff up in bright new uniforms and freshly polished shoes for competitive marching. The Lawra Youngsters prepared a banner especially for this occasion with the motto “Save Lives - Be Responsible.” 

Peace Corps Agriculture Volunteer Janette Ambauen 

(Source: peacecorps.gov)

The photo was taken in South Africa at a school where Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterparts had their permagarden training. People were encouraged to design plots in different shapes to get young people interested in gardening and to use as a teaching aid. 

In this one in particular, a message about HIV/AIDS is communicated, that we need vegetables to feed HIV/AIDS infected and affected. 

Peace Corps Education Volunteer Malope Malapane 

Fighting AIDS with Art   

I served in Peace Corps Mozambique from September 2007- November 2009. During my time, I started a community art group within the secondary school, as a branch of JOMA (a Portuguese acronym for “Youth for Change and Action”). JOMA is a nationwide youth development organization started by Peace Corps Volunteers that uses communication mediums at the local level to promote healthy behavior among Mozambican youth, with a mission of social change.

My group in Monapo, Mozambique created over 5 murals in our community to promote awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS. This photo is with Momade Abdul, the group leader, helping create a mural in our local market named, “The fight with AIDS starts with us.”

Peace Corps Education Volunteer Nia Chauvin 

Students Reading the Truth and Myths About HIV/AIDS 

At my primary school in Burkina Faso, I collaborated with the teachers to teach the oldest grade level about the myths and the truth about HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and stigma. In the photo students are reading a hand-out before we began the activity.

Peace Corps Health Volunteer Bridget Roby 

A Peace Corps Volunteer assists with HIV/AIDS testing at a local clinic in Botswana that focuses on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.