May 11

This morning a few of us went to the Yupakari primary school to talk to the kids about the importance of education and how to avoid obstacles that can prevent them from reaching their goals.  We discussed sex education, alcohol, and drugs.  When we finished we asked them to write down any questions they might have (we knew they would be too shy to ask out loud). The majority of the questions centered on HIV/AIDS.  After yielding questions about transmission, prevention, and treatments, it was obvious that they all know someone with the disease.  Another particularly hard question to answer was, “What do I do if my parents won’t let me have the job that I want?” It’s obvious that their culture is continually changing as technology becomes more present in their lives, but some older adults are resistant to these changes. It was really neat to see how intently they listened to us and think that we might have had a small impact on their lives.

By Shea