HIV/AIDS Clinic

So I was invited back by Valentine to the AIDS clinic at UNZA today..and of course I had to go. This meant that I was missing out on the street outreach that my site was doing today, but I felt as though this was an amazing opportunity. Let me start by explaining that I think I literally aged 10 years in 3 hours today...
Berto was thrown into the clinic and what I thought we would be doing was assisting with the counseling portion of the HIV test...not so much..Berto is actually doing the pre test couseling, then administering the test, then doing the post test counseling. So Berto and I sat in a room and tested UNZA students...I mean like WE tested them...right then and there..and then made then wait as we waited in the tiny room for the results, brought them back in and talked to them about the results. I felt so grateful to have had only negative results today, but Berto has had to give out a positive result once...
It was insane...I mean really crazy and I was so happy to be a part of it. We were talking with the counselors at the Clinic and the biggest need that they have right now is support for the children who have tested positive through their clinic. There is little to no support for these families and many of the HIV positive children are living with older grandparents who have outlived their own children. The grandparents dont understand the disease and there is little education available for them. The drugs that these kids are taking makes them sick already and many times, the grandparents who are not working, dont have money to feed them, so the children take the medication on empty stomachs, get sick and then miss school....
I sense thesis project and a fundraiser in my future!!
Other than that my site has been awesome...I love the kids. We are doing literacy daily and group therapy everyday, its challenging and I would not have it any other way! Tomorrow we are taking the kids to the agricultural show that Zambia has every year and it is hosted in Lusaka, the kids are really excited!
The chicken coop in well on its way...Yesterday we had to level out dirt and there is a kid named Malama who for the record has one leg, who was giving us such a hard time about being lazy americans. He kept telling danny that danny didnt know how to dig and that nothing was going to get done if thats how we planned to work. Finally Danny hands him the pick and Malama put him to shame..I mean dropped his crutches and went to town!! It was easily a highlight of my trip we were laughing soooo hard.
I miss home but after today I am really grateful to be able to be a part of something so much bigger than me!
Thats all for now!