Kristen and I finally got to meet our trip participants last night! All seven of them were able to show up, so it was nice to start to get a sense of what the trip dynamic would be like. Everyone seems very laid back, which is perfect for the type of service trip that Camp Heartland is. What is also nice about our group is that there's a wide range of ages - I think we have two freshman, two sophomores, a junior, and two seniors. We got to know one another while going over basic trip logistics and snacking on pizza, all the while getting more and more excited about the trip!
Our main activity was listening to a speaker who came from a local organization which worked with our issue. We heard from Shaun Whybark, who is a MSM HIV Prevention Specialist with the Columbus AIDS Task Force. Our trip was paired with the trip heading to Project Lazarus, which is a hospice care facility in New Orleans that treats AIDS patients.
To begin the presentation, Shaun asked us why were participating on our respective trips. It was amazing how quickly we were all able to enter into having serious, personal conversations about our own motivations for service, especially after only just meeting each other! It was striking how similar responses were; even if someone said a reason that they thought no one else was going to say, someone always piped in with "Oh, me too!"
Shaun gave us what was essentially an HIV 101 session - disease information, testing information, information about the ways HIV is passed, and information about what treatment is like. It wasn't so much a lecture, but an open, guided discussion. We talked about what our perceptions of HIV/AIDS are and how those perceptions have changed between three generations. Shaun said one of the most truthful summaries of knowledge about HIV/AIDS, "With understanding comes complacency" that really underscored the educational aspect of these service trips for me. It was a safe environment to ask questions about what we had heard about HIV/AIDS and have those rumors either denied or confirmed (mostly denied).
It was really powerful to hear about HIV/AIDS in our own backyard. I think that most people acknowledge that we, in the United States, are still dealing with AIDS epidemic, but have relegated it in our minds to a disease of the developing world. CATF is doing so much to spread awareness in our own community, and they do it with just five staff members.
After the presentation, we held a quick (under 5 minute) meeting with our participants, answering any last-minute questions and making early plans for a potluck to get to know each other even better before the trip.
For more information about CATF, check out their website at http://www.catf.net. In addtion, they are holding fundraisers at local restauraunts on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1); check out http://www.reasontodine.com for information on that program.
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