Mountain Tops

08/06/05

I feel that way constantly, like I climbed up this huge mountain, and I have no idea how to get down...

These are the moments to remember (uncomfortable as they may be.) Children sit under the shade of a tree. They take nickles and dimes out of their pockets to give to the church. Watching this impromptu fundraising is inspiring. Watching as flies crawl in and out of this sleeping child\'s mouth. Some dont crawl out. The sermon is about how to raise yourself out of poverty through hard work.

A quick sermon, handshakes all around, and now I\'m home sweet home. I really do agree with many of the tenants of Christianity, and seeing how the organized religion pulls this community together is quite wonderful as well. I\'ve talked to Robert, and he says that although the church in theory disagrees with condom use and family planning, they have accepted the fact that these are life saving tools, and in every church run health center you\'ll find free condoms and birth control. And that no one is going to object when these things are part of out Life Skills Workshop.

And now we\'re back at the church, for an HIV/AIDS sensitivity training session. A lot of people are here, I think because we\'re going to watch a video. They brought a TV from someone\'s residence and are trying to get the power figured out. Robert has a video cassette.

The video was poor quality, and people were restless, but the themes were good and people got it. We had a good town hall style discussion afterwards, Robert asked people what they saw in the video and people responded. Its good. Except for one fellow who was convinced that we in the West have a secret about HIV/AIDS prevention that we\'re not sharing with Africa. We\'ll need to have a talk.

A frequent theme in my dreams is being stuck in a very high place, usually on top of a mountain, and not being able to get down. I feel that way constantly, like I climbed up this huge mountain, and I have no idea how to get down... But its quite the view from up here, and who knows when I\'ll get this high again. So no rush down. I\'ll figure out how to descend when the time comes... In the meantime, here we are.

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