An afternoon as a 'Rural Healthcare and HIV/AIDS Awareness' volunteer: Hannah Carr

Volunteers sometimes find themselves faced with moments on projects that provoke such an intense passion, emotion and desire to make an impact, that it can often be hard to find the words to express these feelings. This entry is straight from past 19 year old Australian volunteer Hannah Carr's journal.  

October 3, 2013- Day 2 Adult HIV Education Course:

“The second HIV class was a combination of hilarious, impressive and incredibly heart-warming! The difference in all the men today compared to yesterday (day one) was wonderful! They were so confident and comfortable speaking about HIV and even about STIs, that I was feeling really overwhelmed at the end of the day, knowing I helped make that happen. 

We had to do the condom demonstration and my gosh, did that make me laugh! Between sexual jokes and awkwardness and the men momentarily thinking they had to practice on themselves, it was a huge dose of laughter! The one woman of the class was very timid, so I sat with her and we went through it together; which I’m glad I did!

Again, the men blew me away today with their honesty and well-thought-out questions, as well as the way they responded to the information we gave them. It really felt like they believed in what we were teaching, particularly when I started talking about being proud of who they are- HIV positive or negative- and that they were all equal and worthy people, regardless of their HIV status.
I cannot wait for the exam tomorrow afternoon and to give out the certificates; even if they forget some of the medical stuff, removing the stigma and discomfort of speaking about HIV is so HUGE and I feel so, so lucky to be a part of that.”

- Hannah Carr, 19, Australia.

The below pictures were from the last day of the Adult HIV Education course, where each and every student in Hannah's and fellow volunteer, Jo's class passed!

For more information on volunteering our Rural Healthcare and HIV/AIDS Awareness project or any other AFrican Impact project please follow this link: http://www.africanimpact.com/