First World Aids Day in Honorato Vasquez brought to you by Talia

World AIDS day march…draining but worthwhile project!

• Clowns, whistles, banners (that my youth group and I stayed up painting until late hours of the night), posters, the school band, the high school students and teachers, elementary school students, the health center, the police, the mayor, the beauty queen formed my grand day of events to raise awareness about HIV.
• There were several setbacks while planning the march but I am happy to report that somehow everything fell together…at parts things felt like they were on the brim of falling apart with the energy of 250 kids intensifying but with the assistance of my great Ecuadorian friends, we pulled it back together.
  

My youth group's beautiful World Aids Day banner Everyone loved wearing the little red ribbons
Clowns to entertain the kidsThe kids are so adorable in their school uniformsIt turned out to be a very sunny day but my neighbor friend Arnaldo rode his tricycle through the parade carrying jugs of agua on the flatbed to pass out to the kids marching in the parade.

Lessons learned:

• Think twice about passing out whistles at any future kid events
• When planning an event, having a back-up plan is not enough. It is highly recommended to have a Plan B, a Plan C and maybe even a Plan D when organizing an event …it is hard to get people to follow through with commitments.

The high school band After the march, I invited all the participants to an exhibition in the elementary school with mini-workshops continuing with the World Aids Day theme.The best part about the day was when I heard kids telling their parents as they were being picked up, everything they had learned from the exhibition...very rewarding experience that made me feel like all the work was worthwhile.

My wonderful group who helped me put the event together

After the march, I was asked by another high school to give some more health workshops and to replicate the Aids presentation. I spent the last couple of weeks testing out my skills, and I have to say I was surprised to find out how much I enjoyed the classroom setting. (maybe I will get my M-R-S license and become a teacher when I return to the States, you never know)

(PS. Have I already mentioned how my community gave me the name Talia? For some reason, Alea was simply too difficult to pronounce and adding the letter T to the front end of my name transformed it into something they recognized. (Thanks to the beautiful and well known singer singer named Thalia)