HIV/AIDS Prevention in the Potika IDP Camp

The trip to the Potika IDP camp went really well. After the experiences in the Agoro IDP camp I was more prepared and more comfortable teaching about HIV/AIDS in front of large groups of people. The Potika camp is slightly smaller than the Agoro camp (Potika is about 8,000 people instead of 10,000) and is split into two smaller camps that are over a mile apart. We were living in a mud hut in Potika camp A (the northern half of the camp that is about 14 miles from the Sudan border) and we walked to Potika camp B several times a day so we got lots of exercise during our stay. We did most of the same activities that we did in Agoro - video shows about HIV, condom shows and distribution to the drunk men every night, talking with the women and the youth. However, in Potika we were also able to talk in the primary school about HIV/AIDS and stigma in grades 5, 6, and 7. These went really well and the children had a surprisingly high knowledge of HIV.


Here the school children (over a 1,000) are watching a film encouraging education for girls. We gave a very simplified talk about HIV afterwards. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of us standing in front of the classrooms teaching about HIV because we were busy during the classroom visits and never remembered to take a picture.

Here are some community members are watching a film about HIV. We had several (about 5 films about HIV). We had 4 video showings in Potika A and 4 video showings in Potika B as well as a showing at the school and at the military barracks.

Sometimes we played music in Luo to draw people for our video shows or teaching to the youth. We were playing music and I was just taking some pictures. I started to take a picture of this tree and all these children climbed up in the tree and stared dancing. I thought it was very funny so I took a picture for you'll to enjoy.

Here is one of the many "HIV education signs" posted around the elementary school. Logan commented that this is pretty intense. This is a school for children in grades 1-7 and it has signs like this. It is a different world. Most girls drop out of school before they reach 7th grade because they get married at the age of 13 or 14.