Last week I went to the province Sisaket (which borders Cambodia) to help my friend and fellow volunteer with a life skills camp. Thai people love having camps. English camps in particular, but really any kind of camp. They don't necessarily like going to these camps, but they love the appearance of having one and in Thailand, that's all that really matters. If they can take pictures and hang up a banner, they love it! It's almost comical, but they are very serious about making it look like it was a success and everyone had a blast. I wonder if no one cares, why do it at all, but what do I know, I'm just the silly foreigner here to be in all the pictures. Haivng a foreigner gives it much more legitimacy. I have attended various meetings at my office, schools, and other similar functions and without fail, Thai people blatantly fall asleep, talk on their phone, or just up and leave. I have even seen the speaker stop the meeting to talk on his phone and the co-facilitator fall asleep at the front table. The best is watching people (men and women, mind you) clip their nails in such a public setting. It's honestly magical what happens to Thai people in meetings. I find endless amusement from watching. It doesn't seemt to get old, because each time someone manages to do something even more ridiculous or random.
As a result, I was a little hesitant about facilitating a session at a camp. But I hitched a ride on a bus to Sisaket anyway. The idea of the camp was to have English teachers come and we train them on how to teach their students life skills. The other volunteers led sessions on teamwork, recycling and environmental issues, and hygiene. My session was on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. I was fortunate to have a good translator and an awesome nurse from the hospital who is passionate about HIV/AIDS prevention. We did 4 rotations with about 60 teachers and it was actually a lot of fun.
In the hopes of preventing people sleeping and manicuring their nails during my session, I tried to make it as interactive as possible. Peace Corps provided us with tons of resources for leading sessions likes these, which is so great. I planned a game called the Condom Time Bomb. It involves blowing up a bunch of condoms with HIV/AIDS true or false facts in them. Everyone passes the condoms around and when the music stops, that person who is holding the condom has to pop it and read the fact about HIV/AIDS. The idea is to make youth more comfortable with condoms and simply talking about the issue. The teachers loved it!
During the first session, the nurse handed me a box and said to open it while she explained more about HIV/AIDS information. Turns out, inside the box was a very realistic looking male organ. She told me to hold it at my waist.... and then she showed everyone how to apply a condom properly. The whole thing was ridiculous. There I, the token foreigner, stood in a Thai classroom holding a fake penis at my wasit while a Thai nurse put a condom on it in front of 25 adults. It was just one of those moments that made me truly laugh. The scene must have looked absolutely ridiculous. Everyone was laughing and smiling and it was really fun.
I don't know how much the teachers will take back to their students, but if nothing else, in some small way, helped to reduce the stigma against HIV/AIDS just by talking about it. I'm sure all of those teachers told their families and neighbors about the Condom Time Bomb game and essentially that's the point.
Sidenote: It's harder than you think to blow up 50 condoms. Sarah, Heidi, and I did it the night before the training. Sarah ended up using a bike pump. That's right, we spent the night blowing up condoms. Welcome to Peace Corps.
The pictures are off the Condom Time Bomb game, my translator PiMod and me tired and sweaty after a long day, and Sarah and Heidi being awesome and helping blow up 50 condoms.
I love this!!
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