Living in Lesotho: BROin out

One of the defining things about my Peace Corps experience has been the lack of certainty about the work I'm doing and how effective it really is. I'm clear that I'll probably never see the rewards of the most of what I do, and I just have to do the best I can and hope that some of the seeds I plant will grow after I leave.

But sometimes I'll have an experience like I did at the BRO camp that I co-organized last weekend, where suddenly I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and I'm in the right place at the right time.

A little background:

Boys are great, and I think it's a damn shame how often they're left out of the gender equality equation, everywhere in the world. Nowadays there are a ton of programs to support and empower girls across Africa, but these things rarely have an equivalent for boys. How are they supposed to learn positive self-esteem, how to clearly communicate and have healthy relationships, to stay physically healthy, to protect themselves and their partners from HIV and to support and empower the women in their lives if no one teaches them how?

In Lesotho, boys in general are not trusted and largely blamed for problems like theft, regardless of evidence.

There is a huge drinking problem here, evidenced by the fact that there is a bar or homemade joala (alcohol) in EVERY village (but in some areas only one clinic for like five villages), around which drunk bo-ntate (men) gather.

From around the time that they start puberty, there is a very clear, invisible divide between girls and boys. This means they live together and go to school together, but in terms of their roles and social circles, they are almost entirely seperate.

Culturally, most adults will not talk about sex (the physical part of it, the emotional part, nothin). This is regardless of the fact that Lesotho, a country around the size of Maryland, is number 1 or 2 in the WORLD for HIV transmission.

So it's really no surprise that come adolescence:

most boys are aware of HIV as a thing and as problem, but not the ins and outs of how it works and what they can do to keep themselves and their partners safe.

They are very aware of alcohol but not the full ramifications of it.

They have never thought about their roles in society and in relationships as boys/soon-to-be-men (e.g. THE PATRIARCHY)

They generally think that they have the right to have sex with whoever they want, whenever they want.

...which is all really problematic.

So that's why Mackenzie, Ototo and I (DREAM TEAM SUPREME) had this camp, and it was incredible to see the boys create the safe space that they agreed on in the contract

, to see the counterparts facilitating and supporting them and to see what they all took away from the experience. It was without a doubt one of the peaks of my time here.

Morning stretch=morning fresh

Mack is a superior poster maker

Gotta dance

snaps for condoms!

don't forget the ladiez

"So this is my bazooka..."

nothin' like a condom demo to engage the youth

Our amazing guest speakers from Jhpaigo, who came to talk about Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision. It cuts down on the rate of HIV transmission by 60%!