Bike Trek

A couple months ago PC The Gam did a huge bike trek for HIV education. There were 3 teams, two starting from opposite sides going towards Farafeni and one that trekked around FF. I was on the Janjanbureh to FF team which ended up being about 117k (72 miles) of biking over 5 days.

We taught in teams with a 4 hour lesson then biked in the evenings and slept at the schools. Here are some high and low lights from each day.

Day 0- We biked to ____ (insert village name here, I can’t remember). We were met with song and drumming. We wanted to do a movie showing but the generator was a terrible flop.

For dinner we ate bikit bread, canned meat, onion, mayo, and mustard. Sleeping was freezing for some and the showering “area” was just a spot between trees behind a building. Good thing it was a moon-less night.

Day 1- We taught out first lesson. Trial by fire really. My class was a little silent but I’m sure some people learned a bit. Kevin and I partnered up and dropped some knowledge. We biked over to Wassu, ate a ton of domada (tomato, peanut butter, rice), then set up camp in the computer room of Wassu’s upper basic school. We had foam mats this time around. Win!

Day 2- Second day of teaching the lesson.

We were more on our game but the students were basically mute. It was half painful during the last lesson when the kids had to toss red string to each other and say something they learned. We had the PVC who lives there help us and she was really great with keeping the kids in line and just making us feel good. The ride to Nyanga Bantang was nice but I was lacking some optimism after the kids at Wassu.

But then!

We were met in Nyanga Bantang by a happy head teacher, great food, and a shower area that actually covered us. Moral was getting better and we had a “romantic” dinner by candle light in the big room at the school.

Day3- 3^rd day of the lesson and it went TERRIFIC! The students already knew so much, were way more talkative, and they actually understood some English. I was really impressed by this school. Since Wassu wasn’t too good I thought this more rural school would be the same or worse, but their students were exactly how we hoped students would be. We biked to Panchar and met up with another PVC. We hung out at her compound, took showers, ate Nyatikon (re-cooked rice with msg spice, and dried fish. It sounds gross but its actually really good), and had attaya. When we got back to the school we got to eat Chicken Yassa (chicken, onion, spices, and extra veggies) which was delicious. We were more like a travelling zoo to these kids because every other minute someone was looking in at us. We were met with a really great dancing and drumming kids club as our welcome.

Day 4- Class went even better! Kevin and I had a huge class but the kids already knew SO much! I was able to do a condom demo at each school but this village had a little bit of debate about if it was culturally appropriate to do so. Their health teacher basically said “I already did one, so why not another?” In the end I got to do one. During this whole trip there were many memorable quotes but this is one that, when said, I had to walk out of the class to laugh. “Oral sex is when a man puts his mouth on a man’s vagina”. I had to leave, I had to laugh, but you know, still wanted to seem professional. We biked to our last school, had some more great dinner, and spent the night listening to listening music and sitting on sporadically placed desks outside.

Day 5- We were at a Senior Secondary which meant the kids already knew almost everything and were a lot more active with their questions. Our class was bulging with people and we were asked every sensitive subject under the sun. From homosexuality, to female condoms, to “the cure” which is a governmental program to cure people with HIV. Our students put on a drama and even made their own song. It was really well done.

Then, we biked, and biked, and biked. We had to bike 37k to FF. It took a while but wasn’t horrible. The last 5k dragged but when we got there we were met by the FF team, chicken dinner, and free sodas.

We had a celebratory party, then, my team and the Barra to JJB team stayed in the hospital. It was a little creepy but at least we had somewhere to sleep. Plastic covered beds and bad lighting in a 3^rd world hospital are the things of nightmares but having 4 people in my 10ft by 7ft room made it hard to be creeped out.