Wedneday was the SAHARA conference that I have been getting ready for for a few weeks. Everything went pretty smoothly. The first 2 hours were just lectures.
- The coaches got so bored.
- After working in the environment that I have been for four months, academic research papers are extremely annoying.
These professors and members of UNICEF would get up and tell us numbers from studies and then say, "We need to pay attention to BLANK" or "BLANK is important." I just was sitting there like, ok...now what do you propose to DO!? It just all seemed to useless. The people I work with are actually on the ground helping and doing things.
The best part of the morning session was when this woman gave a lecture on giving more focus to gay and lesbian people and their ability to spread AIDS. People in the audience had a few comments and questions on this subject. At one point the speaker told a man that he was weak in his faith. Another woman half-went into details of her sex life as a lesbian.
During our morning tea break I was sitting and talking with Lavista and he said to me, "Do you believe in lesbians?" I was a little taken aback. I just answered, "what?"
Lavista: Do you believe in lesbians?
Me: You make them sound like fairy tale creatures. I don't understand. They exist, so yes I believe in them. (At this point we are sitting near coaches who are openly in same-sex relationships).
Lavista: I was just asking because I have a cousin and she was a lesbian. But now she's straight...so I just don't know.
The afternoon was more familiar. We had 3 sessions to run. It was youth day so there were some kids as well as some adults from other NGOs and research groups from all over. We ran risk field where Bej is just a superstar. He is soooo energetic and engaging. It made for a great activity. People really seemed to enjoy it. Kids were excited, a lot of them knew GRS already which was great to show the adults there, but the adults were also really entertained and intrigued. Mpumi got an interview with a TV station and I got to sit in the background.
Jess picked me up at the end of the day and I wasn't home too long before the Zambia crew showed up at our house. Bryan and some other people who work for GRS in Zambia were doing a SA coast tour and were in PE for the night. It was nice to see Bryan again. He was so excited to see everyone and he's such a nice guy. We went out to dinner and then they went out to the casino and hit a few bars. I was so tired for the day and the casino didn't really get my adrenaline pumping so I went to bed after dinner - it was around 11:00.
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