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Hello from Team Marurani!
We wake up to the alarms of our smart phones, or more likely, to the domestic noises that have undoubtedly started with a punctuality and intensity I could not imagine for such an hour of the day. Tea and coffee is on the table with sweet smelling, oily tasting simple donuts, called mandazi. We bow our heads as our house father, or baba, mutters thanks in Swahili to God. We dress ourselves as the locals do, long traditional skirts and blouses for women, t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers for men. We try to fit into this foreign world. We lives in the same kind of houses, use the same blankets for showers, and walk the same dirt...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 21, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: elaine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

Update from Team Himiti!
We moved into the village on the June 28th ready to educate the villagers of Himiti about HIV/AIDS. On the very first day we met our host families and spent the day getting used to our environment. On the second day in the village we were able to introduce ourselves to a church of more than 150 members and we had our first teaching at another church. Throughout the week, while doing the community surveys, we got to explore the landscape of Himiti as we hiked mountains to get to all the sub-villages. The view from high up included the whole village and the hippo lake (Lake Babati). Unfortunately, Grant and Enoch got sick on...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 16, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: elaine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

Hello from Bonga Village!
Greetings from the SIC volunteers in Bonga Village! Our team, self-proclaimed the Bonga Blue, includes Kimmi, Emily W., Nicko, Zach, Emmy and Hannah Mac. We have been hard at work the past two weeks, as we’ve been reaching out to the many different community and student groups Bonga has to offer. There are two primary and two secondary schools in addition to the three churches, two mosques, and the clinic. Bonga is a busy village where all sorts of people from around the area come to go to market, to seek treatment at the clinic, and to attend school – as it is where the only two secondary schools are located in th...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 16, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: elaine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

VP2 Update: Greetings from Haraa!
We get to Haraa by driving up. Not up some and then down some. Just up. We arrived at the top of a mountain that would be our new home for the summer. At first we could not speak while we walked around the village – the seemingly monstrous hills took our breath while leaving us with only a grunt here and there. The “shortcuts” were even worse. Perhaps the translation is off because we thought shortcut meant short and easy! However, in just two weeks we’ve fallen in love with this place, and everything about it, including our epic hikes to get just about anywhere! What’s more, each of us has fo...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 16, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: elaine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

VP1: Thoughts on Week 1 in Kikatiti Village
Written by volunteers Yoshi, Lisa, Kate, Even, Hellen and Hamida Last Thursday, June 19th, we had scheduled a meeting with a support group for people in Kikatiti who are living with HIV. During the day before the meeting, we started discussing how to approach the meeting. This was unlike the average teaching, one which includes the definition of HIV, its effects on the body after contraction, and how to protect oneself and the community from the disease. Their experience has clearly taught them more than anything we were supposed to tell them. We thus decided to treat it as a learning experience for ourselves about the sta...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 2, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: lindsay Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

VP1 Orientation and Village Move-in
The volunteer turned back, looking toward us through the rows of overgrown sunflowers and maize, as if to simultaneously assure us that she would be okay and also beg us to not leave her alone just yet. We piled back into the SIC truck, sides painted blue and red with a scene of the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series championship, a last reminder of American life as the volunteers embark on their six weeks of village life in rural Tanzania. As we drive off, waving a temporary goodbye to the volunteer and accompanying Tanzanian teaching partner, as well as the hordes of young children who had gathered to welcome us, we breath...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 2, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: lindsay Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

“Haraka, Haraka Haina Baraka” – “Quickly, Quickly Brings No Blessings”- VP1
When I last sat cross-legged, clutching my battered notebook and half lost in the swirling dust kicked up along the sidelines of a Tanzanian soccer field, I knew two distinct truths: If the opportunity to return with SIC were presented, I would not hesitate in accepting… that, and the work which VP1 had started during the summer of 2013 was unfinished. Looking up, I remember seeing the shapes of my fellow volunteers moving among the crowd and between the tents which SIC had erected, leading rural farmers, soccer players and village elders by the hand to receive free HIV/AIDS tests. “This is how change is brought abou...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - July 2, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: lindsay Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

Welcome HIVE UCL!
On 1st June 2014 our Expansion Coordinator Kesh headed to London to meet with the newly established HIVE University College London (UCL) committee for their first training day! The committee, despite having only formed in March this year, have already been hard at work making links with the UCL Volunteering  Service Unit and establishing themselves as an official organisation within the university. The committee consists of 7 enthusiastic students from a range of disciplines and year groups and who are all excited to raise awareness and deliver education about HIV. HIVE’s expansion to London is all the more important wi...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - June 2, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: sam Tags: HIVE UK Activities awareness fundraising HIV education HIVE UCL schools SIC UK Volunteers Source Type: news

SIC UK Alumni
One of the newest projects the SIC National Committee are enthusiastic to get started on is the establishment of a valued, prominent and dynamic alumni. We know how important the work of former SIC volunteers is and are so grateful for the thought and effort that you have put in. SIC UK has evolved into a successful and respected charity at all of our university sites and that is due to the ideas and hard work of our committed former members, particularly in recent years. We would like to maintain close contact with you, send you our quarterly newsletter, have you as guests at our annual conference and also meet socially ...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - May 30, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: sam Tags: Alumni UK Activities social Volunteers Source Type: news

SIC UK reaching new heights
In April, in an effort to keep up with the sporting exploits of my fellow National Committee members(without actually having to do any running) I signed up to abseil off the roof of the Royal Liverpool Hospital, one of the highest points in Merseyside. ‘How hard can it be? Its not that high, just like being on the top floor of the hospital. Its basically just controlled falling, not that hard.’ Turns out that was just wishful thinking. It really WAS that high and pretty windy too! Trying hard to focus on the fantastic views rather than the VERY big drop, I listened carefully to the marshals to pick up some hint...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - May 30, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: sam Tags: Events UK Activities abseil adventure fundraising SIC UK Source Type: news

SJ runs le Marathon de Paris
Several months ago, and in perhaps a state of delirium on a night shift, I decided to sign up for the Paris marathon to raise money for SIC. It was a big undertaking for me as I had never run that kind of distance before, and I started the training about 4 months before the event. I found it difficult to fit in much training around my paediatric rota and the big day arrived sooner than anticipated! I was nervous, excited and also scared of not being able to finish. Energy gels chosen, my main aim was just to complete the 26.2miles! The run was beautiful, taking in the sights of Paris and the weather was perfect. Helped by...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - May 29, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: sam Tags: Events UK Activities awareness fundraising marathon running SIC UK Source Type: news

Clare doesn’t do things by halves!…
In 2013 a few of the SIC UK National Committee embarked on the challenge of running the Bath Half Marathon. The fundraising success and marked improvement in fitness (albeit temporary) encouraged Clare Smith (Chair) to sign her and her dad (Peter Smith) up for the 2014 challenge. Atleast this year Peter had some advanced warning and trained for longer than two weeks! January came round quickly and it was time to begin training. We had a training plan that consisted of short and long runs, gym sessions, spinning and of course body pump! Sadly last years competitors (Francesca Curry and Matthew Sprague) had migrated to the ...
Source: Support for International Change : HIV AIDS - May 29, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: sam Tags: Events UK Activities awareness fundraising half-marathon running SIC UK Source Type: news