Chikoropola Pima Day March 13th

The Chikoropola PIMA day started out a bit like one of my favorite childhood books: Fortunately/Unfortunately…

FORTUNATELY we got all of the cooking done before we left for Chikoropola
UNFORTUNATELY we all got 3 hours of sleep because of the cooking
FORTUNATELY we had 3 bicycles ready the night before
UNFORTUNATELY we didn’t add to that number in the morning – and rode 3 to a bike
FORTUNATELY the Chikoropola kids were helpful and eager to set up
UNFORTUNATELY one of the eager ladies didn’t see me and shoved a stick directly into my eye, making me bleed
FORTUNATELY when the Peer Educators realized that I was ok, they thought it was hilarious
UNFORTUNATELY the little lady had to run away from school for “hitting the white girl”
FORTUNATELY it rained the night before and so didn’t rain during the event
UNFORTUNATELY the road was still bad, and Luke and the doctors got stuck on the way
FORTUNATELY Rama (my parents favorite driver in Tanzania) worked hard and with Lukes help, got the car unstuck
UNFORTUNATELY Lukes pants were covered in mud as he was bombarded by mud by the car when it got out of the hole
FORTUNATELY Luke and Rama detoured to my house and stole a pair of Mustapha’s pants, and Luke was the same size.

The entire day was crazy, but much less chaotic than Makong’onda Idol the year before, due to good preparation, planning, and owing a lot to the kids, who worked very, VERY hard to pull the event together. We planned a lot of activities for the kids and opened the music up to the general public (and when I say “opened up” what I mean is, we played it so loud that the villagers couldn’t ignore their shaking huts and came to see the cause of this earthquake).
The first and favorite of my activities, was the obstacle course. The children had to jump through sacks, shoot baskets, answer an HIV/AIDS question, and then sprint to the finish, where they were rewarded by a box of crayons, donated to me by my church last June (THANKS BARB!). The kids loved the crayons, and thus they swarmed the game for an hour and a half before we broke all of the sacks and made the course a sprint instead. The kids ran and ran, those who didn’t run the race ran on the sidelines to cheer on their friends, they ran all day…then danced….then followed me around…without tiring. Oh to be young again! 
While we were testing people, we set up a condom station, with one male peer educator (Hamisi) and Habiba – who is our “condom expert”, since she always seems to be the one volunteering for the condom station. After male villagers tested, they were allowed to take 8 condoms, but ONLY if they first showed the Peer Educators the proper technique for putting it on. Many people got a kick out of the exercise, and hopefully those “tips for improvement” that Hamisi and Habiba handed out all day will greatly help these men with their future conquests. The women (slightly more shy) were allowed to take condoms in privacy from the female nurse who was testing – several brave soles did try their luck, and most often succeeded on the first try more than the men!
The music was Mustapha’s department, as he was the MC (Master of Chaos). He shimmied his way across the roped in area, dancing with the kids, wrangling in the performers, and organizing all of the impromptu games. The Peer Educators did all of their skits, earning lots of laughs, and many “Mama back-slaps”. The favorites were definitely the skit on drug abuse, since the three young people who are completely inebriated in the skit originally hail from Chikoropola (the lead asked his mother to please not come to the show, he didn’t want her to see him drunk!).
After the skits there were impromptu speakers, both from the young men in the village and the smaller boys in the audience. Their performances were hilarious, some great and some awful (which earned way more cheers). We decided to mix up these performances with dance contests, and we began pulling kids from the crowd to dance for school supplies (Pencils, these provided from my hometown church in Marengo) (THANKS MARY!). Many of the contests were just too close to call, and we ended up going through pencils very quickly, ending our show and our time in Chikoropola.

FORTUNATLY the day was a success, 205 people tested, 160 happy primary school children, and 500 free condoms.
UNFORTUNATLY we all had colds and lost our voices the entirety of the following week.
FORTUNATLY we all knew it was worth it, and can’t wait to do it again!