World AIDS Day

December 1, 2009

Whitney and I woke this morning with no major plans for the day. We had to write a proposal for a grant for the CWCD, but being World AIDS Day, we were upset that we had no event or fundraiser or anything to go to. Whitney told me that the first thing that she wrote in her journal this morning was that she was embarrassed that we were in sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS has devastated millions, and we had no way to ‘celebrate’ World AIDS Day…it was a sad and lonely feeling to be here and have nobody else to share our passion with on this very somber, yet empowering, ‘holiday’. Little did we know that within the hour, we would stumble upon a huge parade full of enthusiasm and desire to put an end to AIDS.

We were on our way to the office when we heard music and commotion by Clock Tower (the center of town). We turned the corner just in time to catch the rear of an endless line of parading activists. We started running to catch up to the front, and on the way, we saw that these activists took the form of students, adults, mothers, fathers, children, widows, friends. We saw groups of Maasai, whole schools, AIDS organizations, hospital workers, and many others.

We asked some marchers what else was going on today, and they enthusiastically said that we should go to the stadium and find out. A lady asked us what we were doing as we marched, and upon hearing our response she asked in a baffled tone, “You teach about HIV/AIDS and you didn’t even know about the parade?” Just another example of how it doesn’t matter what you know, it’s who you know.

Upon entering the stadium, the parade was greeted by a standing-room-only crowd, who were full of cheers and applause for the marchers. Many of the groups performed skits, songs, and small speeches that demonstrated their knowledge of AIDS and their desire for an AIDS-free Tanzania. A panel of guests of honor, probably political leaders from the region, also addressed the crowd (in Swahili) that clearly motivated the onlookers. Many tents were set up around the stadium that had information about everything from HIV to human rights. Free HIV testing was available to all who were willing, and the line for testing was ten times as longer than any other line. It was a wonderful sight.

I am so glad that we could march with the very people that we are here to help and I felt that we were finally on the same page with this community. I was expecting the aura to be much more somber at an event like this since everyone here, if they aren’t themselves HIV+, has a family member or friend who has died from or is HIV+, but this was a World AIDS Day full of optimism and determination.

(This is a picture of one group of students marching in the parade with their WAD 2009 t-shirts on.)

Written by Zach