Words for Thought...

A few days I got a call from Anni saying that a friend of hers on the Island had just died. He died of AIDS - unfortunately something all to common for the people of Mfangano Island. With Mfangano's AIDS rate hovering around 30% attacking a population of 19,000, death is a frequent occurrence. The mourning is brief and people carry on. It's difficult to stomach how different death is perceived over the world due to access to healthcare, poverty, isolation, and education. Coming from a culture where death is seen as a tragedy, as something incredibly unfortunate, you feel guilty as your instincts are to really mourn and feel sad for the individual and family. In the states, when someone dies, we carry that death with us for weeks, months, even years and it's seen as okay to do so. Here, the reality of death is so prominent that the thought of taking time for each death to really mourn for someone is unrealistic when you don't know how much time you yourself even have.

We can't feel guilty though, as I really believe that guilt is the least productive emotion that we have inside of us. Yes, we are from different places, experiencing different realities, and we naturally react in different ways. This is not to say one way is better or one is of more importance, but the fact that someone losing their life is a common occurrence is a problem and we need to act upon that. That is what Anni is doing, though it's hard to feel like you are doing anything at a time like this, Organic Health Response is creating an incredible force of a VCT Clinic and Community Center to address the HIV epidemic on the Island. Though tragedies occur in the states, we are so removed from the rate at which they occur in other countries in the world. It's frustrating, to say the least, to be here and see this happen to people you know and to actually doubt that this will ever get to a manageable level. But one has to choose between hope or pessimism, and for now I'm holding out that hope will prevail in time.

To lighten this blog up a bit, the two photos attached are from the science laboratory at the school. We finally got the financial support to purchase lab equipment for our students. The photos are from the Form 3's taking practice exams - which is a first for KGSA as well. We have never had the funding to buy practice exams but thanks to many of your continual contributions to the school, we've been able to allocate funding for this!

This next week we've got our first Kenyan fundraiser for the 8-week poetry workshop with Imani that I organized and I'm working on finishing this grant proposal for a government-qualified teacher. Hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling. I miss and love you all...

-Ryan