Changes

We gotta make a change... It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.

Let's change the way we eat,

let's change the way we live

and let's change the way we treat each other.

You see the old way wasn't working, so it's on us to do what we gotta do... to survive.

-tupac shakur

...as if this song hasn't already been quoted into cliche-hood it still one of the only things that kept me sane in the last few months. reminding myself to be flexible and that change is small, but it still counts. i'm not really sure where to start.

i'll start with this. computers in africa. i'm going to loose my mind (if i havn't already) if one more flash drive, memory card, ipod gets a virus from these computers that cost me two dollars an hour to use and at least a half hour to download one picture. i've actually screamed in the internet cafe. it wasn't pretty.... its true, in the scheme of life and all the pain and joy i see everyday this is minor. but i just want my pictures and music and grants to stop being lost. the grants i can rewrite. music i can get again later. but if i loose my pictures because a crappy computer gives my camera a virus.... thats it. those are gone. and it stinks.

then there is the fact that four of my closest volunteer friends are no longer members of peace corps. one moved to another city and the other three are now back in america. this stinks too. the relationships you form with your fellow peace corps volunteers is invaluable and truly what gets you through those hard days. i've just been so disappointed with the way this organization has treated its volunteers. but its government bueracracy... anyone suprised?

moving on, (and thats where the inspiration of tupac comes in, i can move on) a lot of good things have been happening too. next monday we are having our first village wide hiv testing day. we have posters up and lots of announcements have been happening. on top of that, because of the poor turn out on the last testing day, i've decided to bribe people with some of the awesome donations like pens, pencils, balls, and tooth brushes, etc. that i've recieved from family and friends. because of all this i expect a big turn out. i'll let you know how it goes. also i've recieved some VERY generous donations for building the village well from the Viola family, mrs. sarkarati, and my grandma luce. they are so appreciated and in october we should start construction. on top of that i'm working on gettting villagers trained in home based care for hiv/aids patients. so we are moving along and i'm learning a lot about what success is and how goals and ideals can change.

so cheers to change! much love and thank you all for your support.