16. Teaching Caregivers

Fact: Due to a miraculous thing called USB wireless internet, I now have regular internet access again. We bought the card when we first arrived in Lesotho, but we've had a very difficult time activating it and recharging it. Anyway, it's working now, so I'm back to the world of blogging.

We just finished our two-day caregiver retreat, during which we taught various community-based healthcare providers about transmission, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS as well as how to pass the information on to other people in their villages. All of the caregivers were women, except for one man. I kind of felt bad for the poor guy... I can definitely identify with him, anyway, since I've been living with three girls for the past two and a half weeks.

Probably the most bizarre part of the weekend was demonstrating to these 50- and 60-year-old women how to properly put on a condom. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, though, and they also had several interesting follow-up questions. For example (and these are verbatim, per translation):

Q: Is it safe to empty the contents of the condom into the vagina after sex?
Q: If the first round is not enough, can you wash the condom in boiling water and use it again?
Q: What feels better, when the male or the female orgasms?

All in a day's work, I suppose.

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