Long Overdue Update

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while (again), so I figured i'd give y'all an update.

A few weekends ago a big group of us congregated to Kisumu to watch the Super Bowl, which was a great time. I can't explain how great it was to get to watch live football, or how difficult it was to stay awake until 6am to watch the end. I'm happy the Steelers lost (sorry, Cahills), and it was a good end to an incredibly depressing football season for me.

A lot has been going on as far as work goes, too. For starters, I mentioned previously (I think) about a male circumcision project me and Jenn are trying to start up in our area. Well, thats's finally gotten rolling, and is going to be a lot bigger than we originally intended. In conjunction with the NGO we are working with, we have setup 6 sites throughout the district that will collectively offer free services for up to 140 people per day, three days a week. This includes HIV/STI testing, post-op care, etc. As I mentioned in another post, the CDC released a study indicating a reduction of HIV transmission by up to 60% in males 15 and older who undergo the procedure, so this could be a good, sustainable project.

The other big project i'll be working on is via the President's Malaria Initiative. Through this program, different US agencies work with ngos to implement malaria prevention techniques and education to affected communities (read more at www.fightingmalaria.gov). Peace Corps is starting up their involvement with an ngo called Population Services Int'l, me, Jenn and our friend Liz are the three PCVs that were chosen to help implement PMI. In March we'll go to a three day training session, and then we'll train members of our respective community based organizations, who will in turn go into the field and educate the community (while we supervise). Malaria is a big problem in Western Kenya, so this could be an effective project.

Anyways, that's pretty much it over here. If you get a chance, google "king baboon spider". I came across one in my house a week or two ago. I came across it because I HEARD it running across the concrete. That is not ok. Any insect/arachnid named after a primate is cause for alarm.

Ok, that's all for now. I'll try and be better about updating. Take it easy.