After 4 months at my current site, I was still without a counterpart. I had met a few hopefuls but didn't really connect with anyone who I was excited about working with and who was worthy of receiving the prestigious title of "alli's counterpart…." It was a sunny day in the middle of May, I was walking back to my house from visiting a friend when this short guy with big ears stopped me. "Hi. My name is Msukuya, you do health stuff here right? I just got back from this seminar and was wondering if you could help me teach a few of the things I learned," he said. We sat down and he told me a little bit about the week long seminar he attended and how he wanted to start teaching at the Primary School. We got along right off the bat. He had finished Form 4 the previous year and was elected by the village government as one of two people to get involved with a local NGO working in the community.
We started teaching the following week. Msukuya was a natural in the classroom and the students were captivated by him. We worked on lesson plans together and he learned to adapt his lessons for various ages and time periods. At first he refused to teach if I wasn't in the classroom with him, but after time he gained confidence and skills to work through the lessons by himself.
After getting to know Msukuya's personality, his work ethic, and learning that he was involved in the drama group while he was in Secondary School, I decided to take him to Community Theater Training. He was a perfect choice, with his interest in educating the community about health issues and his outgoing personality I knew he could do great things with the skills he could learn at the training. He was a leader in the group, a natural on the stage, and kept telling me how grateful he was for the experience. Since returning from the training, Msukuya has organized a group of girls and boys to learn more about HIV and Behavior Change Communication to start teaching in our community. They call themselves the ‘Dream Campaign’ and meet twice a week. They have goals to go out and teach in schools in and around our community, and to perform in the community during World AIDS Day on December 1st.
A few weeks ago he expressed interest in applying for a volunteer position at the clinic. If he was accepted he would be helping to weigh babies and work in the Maternal and Child Health clinic each day. I encouraged him to apply and he was accepted for the position. He is waiting to start but excited about the opportunity to continue educating others and volunteering his time.
Msukuya is more than a co-worker, he’s one of my best friends. He can read my moods like only my mother can, he listens to my frustrations and celebrates with me when things go well. He thinks I’m a fabulous cook (which is hilarious considering he’s referring to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese), and we spend hours sometimes reading books in my courtyard.
On our way to Community Theater Training I asked him why he was so interested in learning and teaching about health and volunteering in our community. He told me that out of the 9 children his mother and father had, 4 have already died of AIDS - the most recent being only last year – leaving his parents to care for 8 orphans (his siblings’ significant others had also been killed by the virus). He blinked away tears as he looked at me and said, “I just want to help it not happen to other families”.
I'm not sure I’ve had much of an impact in any of his successes in these past few months. I think the support I’ve been able to provide was simply being in the right place at the right time. But I do know that without him I'd be wandering around Sepuka like the mangy dogs trying to figure out where I belong. We've helped each other to work towards our goal of improving our community and the livelihood of our villagers and I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us.
