Again, definitely check out World Camp's blog to see shorter, close-to-daily posts of what we're up to here. (http://www.worldcampforkids.blogspot.com) Plus there's a few pictures!!

We got back about an hour ago from hiking Mt. Nkhoma, the same mountain I hiked in January. The difference in appearance was crazy! I barely recognized the path. I got about 2/3 of the way up and hung out there for awhile with a volunteer who wasn't keen on reaching the top.... which was just fine with me!! We had a picnic lunch on a rock before heading back down and eventually meeting the rest of the group at the van. Tonight, we're going out to dinner at an Indian restaurant called Huts. mmmm delicious!!

This past week was incredible. I forgot how much I missed being at schools. Being a coordinator is hard! There were so many times I wanted to jump in front of the class and teach again. But it was also great to be able to watch students and volunteer teachers get more comfortable with each day. I did get to sit in on a little of the teacher meetings, which was wonderful. The majority of the teachers were great - very interested in really teaching their kids about HIV and obviously dedicated. There was one, though, who broke my heart. His name was Harold. This week was a holiday week, so every student and teacher was there voluntarily. Harold, however, showed up drunk on Monday. He sat in on the meeting and made a few comments during the day. It was upsetting to see that although he was not praised by the other teachers, they did nothing to have him leave. I didn't get to go to camp on Tuesday, but he was more drunk than the first day. Wednesday, when I did go back, he only showed up to eat lunch and could barely walk in a straight line. While I hope he was only sitting in on the meeting and isn't actually a teacher, I'm fairly certain he is. It was hard to realize that he probably teaches his class like that everyday. There is such a shortage of teachers in Malawi that even an obvious alcoholic is not fired.

There were two teachers who were involved in a local Community Based Organization (CBO) where we worked on Friday as part of an outreach project. One, Emmanuel, was amazing. He really wanted to work to get the facts out into the community and start to break down the stigma surrounding HIV. He was wonderful to talk to. The CBO is just a few years old. A village headman donated a plot of land to them a few years ago so they could build an office, but it is still just empty land. They are currently building new bricks and taking apart old buildings to try to build an office. On Friday, when we worked with the CBO, we worked with staff, village headmen, and a group of people living with HIV. It was wonderful to hear their stories.

The reason I didn't go to camp on Tuesday is because I was interviewing local high school students who will be Field Interns for second session. They'll work with the high school students that come over from the US, and I am SO EXCITED to get to work with them. It's a volunteer position, so the kids are really dedicated to and interested in the issues. They all just graduated from an SAT class and are hoping to go to college this fall or next. They're all applying to schools in Europe and the States.... hopefully they'll get in!!

So that's just about all I have now.... I hope everyone's doing really well!!!

Just one more thing; my favorite quote of the week came from Tonnex, the director of the CBO we worked with on Friday: "We are capable of understanding."