On January 23, I travelled to Navrongo to help with another HIV testing event at a fellow Georgian’s site. Ethan is an Education volunteer who came to Ghana in the new group last year and teaches art at a high school. As part of his art class, he gave the students an assignment to create posters advertising the event and then posted them around town. He worked with the clinic closest to his house to organize the testing event which also provided education. Two other Upper Geeks (volunteers in the Upper East) Liv and Britney also came to help out. Navrongo, like our regional capital Bolgatanga, has a higher HIV prevalence rate (around 2.2%) than the rural areas where most of us live so it was a good place to target.
The event started in the morning and by the time I arrived everything was setup and there was a steady stream of people getting tested. There were speakers and a DJ outside blaring music to attract more people. Before I arrived an entire local JHS had come and one of the nurses did a condom demonstration but then they all went back to school when they realized they couldn’t all be tested at once. The headmistress then allowed the students to come in small groups so we did plenty of education with them. We had a condom picture game, a laminated HIV quiz that students used a dry erase marker to answer Fact or Myth, did condom demonstrations, and had blown up condoms with questions inside for the students to answer. The clinic also had pamphlets, posters and condoms to distribute. A projector was setup in the waiting area and showed Scenarios from Africa HIV films to keep people entertained in the 5-10 minutes they had to sit before being tested. It was first setup outside under a shelter but because the sun was so bright it made it hard to see so it was moved inside. Flexibility is definitely essential in holding events like this! It got a little crazy midday when the JHS went on break and tons of students came back but we made it through and the rest of the day was calmer.
Once all the students left we finally got to take a small break and eat some lunch.
Of course no event is complete without making friends with a baby. One of the nurse’s kids was super chill and let us hold him and pass him around. By this time people were trickling in to get tested since it was later in the afternoon but people were still there. Around 4:30pm the nurses informed us that the testing kits ran out which was a little frustrating since the event was schedule until 6pm and people were coming. Originally we had asked the clinic to request 200 testing kits but bumped the number up to 300 after Dennis’ event tested more people than planned. But then the day of Ethan found out they’d only gotten 200 but was told that they could go to the District Health office at any time when they ran out to pick up more. But it was too late by the time they ran out to go get more so we had to close early. Despite this challenge, it was a very successful event. Around 200 people were tested with 1 positive result. The woman was told to come back the next day to start treatment. Besides the number of people tested, many more people received valuable education about HIV and condoms.
The event started in the morning and by the time I arrived everything was setup and there was a steady stream of people getting tested. There were speakers and a DJ outside blaring music to attract more people. Before I arrived an entire local JHS had come and one of the nurses did a condom demonstration but then they all went back to school when they realized they couldn’t all be tested at once. The headmistress then allowed the students to come in small groups so we did plenty of education with them. We had a condom picture game, a laminated HIV quiz that students used a dry erase marker to answer Fact or Myth, did condom demonstrations, and had blown up condoms with questions inside for the students to answer. The clinic also had pamphlets, posters and condoms to distribute. A projector was setup in the waiting area and showed Scenarios from Africa HIV films to keep people entertained in the 5-10 minutes they had to sit before being tested. It was first setup outside under a shelter but because the sun was so bright it made it hard to see so it was moved inside. Flexibility is definitely essential in holding events like this! It got a little crazy midday when the JHS went on break and tons of students came back but we made it through and the rest of the day was calmer.
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