Year 3 – Volunteering in Cameroon

World AIDS Day Question & Answer Booth and Testing in Bamenda

On December 1st, communities around the globe are encouraged to hold events and activities to promote the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Living here in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, which has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the country at 8.7%, it is really important to promote awareness of the situation. This year I teamed up with some volunteers and other organizations here in Bamenda on December 2nd to have a question & answer booth set up in the center of town that would include a Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) taking place simultaneously. The project was conceived by Kelly (a really cool Health volunteer here in the NW) and I, and then we had a lot of help from other organizations and Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs).

The goal was to help educate and sensitize citizens of Bamenda on issues relating to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS—this was achieved through an informal Q&A process between volunteers and the people, condom demonstrations, and the handing out of fliers which included places, phone numbers and websites where further information could be acquired, as well as the locations of HIV treatment centers in Bamenda. Overall, the project went really well. We had over 160 people tested, and there were a lot of people with questions sparking conversations about the subject of HIV/AIDS. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of several organizations including Prescafe who hosted the event, RTG (Regional Technical Group) who did the VCT, ACMS, HEDECS, and SNV who contributed promotional materials, demonstrations and transport respectively. And of course thanks to the other PCVs who stood out in the sun all day promoting and answering questions!

To prepare for the event, we had to get the permission of local officials including the Governor, the District Office, and every local police precinct and gendarmerie! Including coordinating all of the different organizations, it was a lot of legwork. But it paid off. Maybe we’ll get to have another event like it sometime soon…