Austin Cain: Follow your heart!

"Equipping someone with knowledge that may save their lives gives you a reward of a feeling that is greater than receiving a huge pay roll" Austin Cain

My Experiences as a Development Instructor in Africa

RICHMOND VALE ACADEMY

Richmond Vale Academy is an international school that trains volunteers from all walks of life to work to combat poverty and dangerous epidemics in Africa and Ecuador. It is located in the North Leeward village of Richmond. It is commonly known as Denmark by the locals because of its construction by the Danish people.

Together with the international Humana People to People Organizations the aim is  to create sustainable development in the areas of Child Aid and orphan programs, primary school teacher training, sale and distribution of second hand clothes, small scale agriculture, foresting and other environmental programs, water supply projects and the fight against HIV/Aids.

THE DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTOR PROGRAM 

The development instructor program is 14months long. The participants undergo elements of training which are both theoretical and practical. They study language, African History, History of Saint Vincent and Garifuna, sustainable development, health, hygiene and epidemics, HIV/Aids and more. Practical skills are learned through organic farming, community actions, building actions and participation in running the academy.  

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN RVA

I joined the Richmond Vale academy in March 2009 because of my profound love for Africa. I had often seen movies, documentaries and television adverts depicting the extreme suffering taking place on the continent. I received a scholarship from the Humana People to People program which covered my tuition. During my stay I worked with a team of 10 other persons from Japan, Argentina, Columbia and Brazil. We did two cleaning campaigns aimed at cleaning the river and bay side that connected the villages of Fitz Hughes and Chateaubelair. We did community outreach where we set up tents in different locations Fitz Hughes, Petit Bordel and Chateaubelair to give information about HIV/Aids. We worked with Methodist church in Chateaubelair during the family training hour (FTH), as well as the Petit Bordel police youth group. We also conducted Spanish evening classes at the Petit Bordel secondary school to assist the students who were getting ready to write exams. I left for South Africa on the 5th November 2009 to work with an HIV/Aids program in Limpompo Province in the Mopani District called TCE (total control of the epidemic).

TCE SOUTH AFRICA

Total Control of the Epidemic (TCE) is one of Humana People to People’s programs that deals with the critical issue of HIV/AIDS prevention. It is a systematic and comprehensive three year program aimed at putting individuals in charge of the HIV/AIDS crisis, based on the realization that only the people can liberate themselves from AIDS - the Epidemic.

TCE functions through the employment and training of local people who go from door to door in order to make sure that every single person becomes armed with the knowledge required to protect themselves and others from HIV/AIDS. Additionally they mobilize people for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and refer people to the various HIV/AIDS related services already in place in the areas. These local people are called Field Officers; each Field Officer visits 2000 people repeatedly over the three year period. One TCE area consists of 100000 people and 50 Field Officers TCE is running 5 Different projects in South Africa covering an estimated total population of 2500 000 persons.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN TCE 

I was stationed in TCE Mopani. The headquarters of the project is located in Tzaneen in the Mopani District, Limpopo Province in South Africa. TCE Mopani is now entering its third year of operation and has so far reached an audience of over 300,000 persons and distributed well over 9 000 000 condoms.

On a daily basis I would go house to house with my field officers as they perform their daily duties; giving information about HIV/Aids, opportunistic infections, STI’S, health and hygiene, Malaria and other dangerous epidemics and life practices. The warm hearts of the people was always gave a welcomed feeling. Even though at times we were not able to understand each other fully the South Africa people often did their best to make sure the stranger felt at home in their homes.

 I went to various schools and clinics in Giyani Villages to introduce TCE and to see the progress TCE has made. The schools were very receptive to the HIV/Aids program; I met with one teacher Ms. Mbiza of the Mahimani secondary school near to Muyexe village whilst conducting an impact assessment in one of the fields. She had become extremely worried about the sexual practices of her students when she realized an increasing number of her fourth and fifth form students were falling pregnant. She had often spoke to her students about abstinence but was even more devastated when she realized that one of her top students had also fallen victim to the circumstances to which she was being cautioned about on a daily basis. She was not only concerned about the fact that the young girl was pregnant; what really tormented her conscience was that this child would have been the teenager’s second. She stated that these kinds of situations are slowly becoming the norms of the society. This situation was very prevalent in the rural villages of Giyani.  

Working with the TCE program re-emphasized the fact that you cannot look at someone and know that they are HIV+. This is one fact that I think tends to evade the minds of most people. Whilst conducting a door to door HIV campaign in Matsososela a small village off the main of Giyani I was working with one of my field officers when we came across a small group of men sitting together, talking. We greeted them and entered into their premises, as usual they offered us a seat. We sat with them and began trying to mobilizing them to go for testing. Immediately one of the men put up resistance. His friends looked at him in amazement; trying to figure out the reasons for his reaction. Then he began speaking to them about their sexual practices as the sunny, steaming hot, atmosphere slowly seemed to came to a gloomy almost deadly silence as  the man aged 34 confessed to his friends and us that he was mobilized by one field officer before and went for testing and he was found to be hiv+.  He had never known how to tell this to his friends before as they stared at him in astonishment as he encouraged them to also go for testing. As we left the yard my field officer and I pondered if the men would actually come for testing. Later in the afternoon the 3 men showed up. The 2 remaining men got tested but their results were not revealed to us as this was confidential information.

Equipping someone with knowledge that may save their lives gives you a reward of a feeling that is greater than receiving a huge pay roll. I had this experience one day while I was conducting impact assessment in one of the fields where I approached a lady sewing in her garage. I greeted her and we began testing her knowledge of HIV/Aids its means and methods of prevention, and contraction. While asking her some of the questions from the questionnaire I was appalled at some of the responses she gave. She was excessively mis informed. We spoke for more than an hour as I explained to her why some of the theories that she had were not logical.  After much exchange of thoughts and knowledge I was able to assist the lady in understanding better HIV/Aids. She was so grateful that she called her daughter from inside to meet me and explained to her daughter about my job. She invited me to come to her house again to speak to her entire family.

The thought of knowing someone living with HIV is very often mind boggling. This is however more devastating when the thought is amplified and becomes knowing someone who is dying because of it. One of my field officers; an elderly lady was missing from her field for two days without reporting. This immediately got to our attention as members of the administration. Knowing the fact that she was HIV+ immediately dawned on our consciences as we called her home to find out about her well being. Her relative informed us that she had taken ill and was rushed to a hospital some 200+ kilometers away. We called her and she put us on to her doctor who said we would be able to visit her on the Saturday. We agreed to do so and went to visit her I was accompanied by my project leader and another of my work colleagues. We carried fresh fruits and juices and reading material for her. When we went inside her room to see her she greeted us with smiles, and said that we were the only visitors she had had since her admission to the hospital on the Monday before. We asked her the reason and she stated it was because of her condition her family members rarely wanted to be associated with her.

We spent some time with her and gave her the items we had bought for her. While stowing away her magazines I noticed she had a writing pad in her presence with numbers, not phone numbers but just jottings and names along with them. I tried but could not contain my curiosity. I asked her what was the significance of the numbers, she smiled and responded “ I am going to die, I know that, and these people know that too, so I want them to pay me my money before I die”. Though the atmosphere was initially sad and gloomy even the nurse that was on the ward erupted with laughter.  This lightened the environment right up until we left the hospital that day. This is undoubtedly one of my most memorable experiences in South Africa.

A lot of the situations I was faced with in South Africa are also present in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines or they are escalating rapidly towards the same. I will spend as much time as possible speaking to and trying to educate persons with whom I interact. I think sharing my experiences with the Vincentian public as well as working along with the youth and/or any other organization that I am permitted to will assist in the development primarily of the persons around me, those with whom are interested in listening and maybe to a greater extent the nation as a whole.

I would definitely love to return to Africa the continent, but not specifically South Africa, I would love to venture into one of the lesser developed regions, for example Somalia or Malawi. For the future I would really love to work with a movement that involves working with people for the betterment of people. Not necessarily as a volunteer but not an occupation that is aimed solely at making money or increasing finances that is squandered for the lavish desires of superficial luxuries. Being a volunteer in RVA and Also TCE RSA was nothing short of a meaningful, learning experience. They both have caused me to develop more as an individual and as someone who can take a stance in a position of leadership. 

For anyone else who comes to the realization that they would like to be a volunteer I would like to ask them to follow their heart. But firstly consider what they might be getting themselves involved in. To be away from the lifestyle, culture and even the food that you are accustomed to may pose a challenge. It is a challenge that some may be able to work around, but a challenge which may cause some to succumb to their weaknesses. Once the person’s mind has finalized the decision making process, then what is left is for the person to find the program that suits them best, and go out and make a difference in the world. If anyone would like to get In contact with me to hear more about my experiences I can be contacted at phone number 433-1746.