A Memorable Overnight

March 15, 2009
An hour late, our last teen member of our club casually saunters into our meeting place, where the rest of our teen club is waiting in a van to depart with all its members for our memorable overnight at Mokolodi Nature Reserve. It was the first such trip for our recently established teen club. By ten o’clock our group of about 30 arrived at a private game reserve where we were to be treated to a weekend away from our village so we could appreciate nature as well as getting to know each other better as well as ourselves.
Despite rain on and off during our visit there, we did manage a game drive. We were all excited to see some elephants, a big, old giraffe, warthogs, cheetahs, impalas, as well as many birds. While looking through binoculars and taking photos, some for the first time, our teens ages 14-19, enjoyed themselves entirely listening attentively to all the explanations. We also learned teambuilding and map reading by being dropped off in the middle of the park with a map and had to figure out how to return to our center on foot. This meant using our brains and our feet, but we all did it. Some arrived earlier and others arrived later exhausted back at the education center.
In the evening we sat around a traditional fire telling stories, playing games, singing and laughing for hours. Afterwards our students spent a long time unburdening themselves by sharing with each other their feelings about how and when they learned they were HIV positive. The next day after a nature walk in a drizzling rain and some games, students wrote poetry drew pictures and wrote short pieces about their experiences as members of this special teen club and how they felt about sharing their HIV status. All in all our teen club was just like any others, with lots of laughter, running around and making new friends, except they were all HIV positive and experiencing what it was like to share with each other and also learning new life skills.
During our short time in Mokolodi we also announced the new male and female leaders for our club. The new leaders were able to learn from the older experienced leaders throughout the two days. These skills and experiences are extremely important in an environment where there are few opportunities for students to take lead and take control of their lives. For more information, see the link Botswanateenclub.wordpress.com to understand the role of the larger parent teen club. It is truly a wonderful organization sprouting roots in different parts of Africa developing leadership in a well thought out process and preparing for many more HIV positive students in the future.
All in all, students and volunteers were extremely grateful to be treated to the unique opportunity to gather in such a conducive and natural environment. In short, we all had an unforgettable experience.
It would be great to hear from others who have experience working with teens and suggestions for activities and events. Do feel free to post any other comments as well.