Are you bothered by a persistent good mood, positive demeanor, cheery outlook on life? Maybe I can help!

As I stated in a previous blog entry, my emotions are pretty erratic these days, varying from fond sentimentality about my time here to harsh cynicism. For example, this past week my period at the Teachers Training college went very well, and all I could think was how great it was to work with such energentic, enthusiastic people - and all the better that their energy will hopefully go to helping thousands of young kids! Then the next day I heard a new rumor about one of the teachers I know sleeping with his students, and while visiting a guesthouse I saw a primary school teacher walking OUT of his room, in the middle of the day, followed closely by a secondary school girl [and once they left I went in to snoop, found no sign of condom usage - this girl clearly thinks she will not pass her exams and thus is free to get knocked up since she will be done in 3 weeks], and the more I asked people the more I gathered that many/most teachers sleep with many many students. And people know about it, and it's normal, though it's still considered unethical, it happens all the time. Hell, I heard [and of course this is all rumors and speculation which is a dangerous dangerous game] that there was a secondary school teacher who purposedly tried to get a student pregnant because he really like her - what can I say, it's sort of a complement here. It was all very disturbing.

I saw one of my coworkers again the other night at a bar, with his wife. I've seen them out together before, and have always been THRILLED when we bump into each other, because why the hell should a man NOT take out the woman he loves and is married to, to enjoy some drinks and music and relax together?!!?! It seems to happen so rarely here. But then within the past week I've seen back-alley [well there are no alleys here but you get the picture] conversations and heard a lot more stories, and have come to the conclusion that about 20% of married people here are actually faithful to their spouse. And it may be much lower. And if the husband has a job which is far away from his wife, it's almost a 100% guarantee that he's cheating. I used to try to trick myself by saying, well, ok, but not so-and-so, they don't do it. But no, almost everybody cheats and sleeps around. Well, this is cynical me talking, but this side of me can be pretty convincing.

Then there are the daladala conductors. I always knew they were a pretty rowdy bunch, but several of them have gotten used to me and we talk when we get free time, I give them advice, teach them about condoms, and give their heads the quarter-turn screw they need to get them on straight and live a decent life. But they become unscrewed again. Yesterday, I was coming back from a nearby village and one of the conductors was drunk as I've ever seen anyone be here. And he of course picked a fight with another one, traded some doosy insults, and started a fistfight that ended in blood all over the place, a car full of screaming children and mothers, a crowd of no-good young men [it was friday market day], and just an all-around not pleasant situation. Oh by the way, blood-inducing fist-fights may not seem a big deal in the states, but if you knew how many women these conductors sleep with, the last thing you would want is their blood on YOU. I'm sure several have HIV, statistically there are a total of around 20 so I would say 2-3 are positive. So there's that, plus they sleep with students too, and smoke a lot of pot, and just kind of seem to have given up on 'life' and are prepared to party until their death. Depressing.

And finally, everyone's favorite topic, AIDS. People die of AIDS here all the time, that's not new. And i've been working with several groups of PLWHA doing nutrition seminars to talk about balance diets, in order to prolong lives and improve the health of these people so they can take ARVs effectively and go about their daily work and lives. Again, not new. But this week for the first time I saw someone whom I've known since I arrived here, and who was a perfectly normal looking person, seemingly deteriorate into late-stage AIDS. He works in Misungwi town, and while he hasn't said anything, people suspect he has HIV since his first wife, second wife, and 2 children he has born by his third wife have all passed away. He's about 50 years old I'd say, short, and was a healthy body weight. Apparently he used to call himself 'mtombaji wa taifa', which is crude langauge for 'the national fucker' i.e. someone who has sex with a nation full of young women. Pleasant, no? I saw him yesterday, and he looks about 1/2 the man he used to be. If he was once 160 pounds, I would literally say he is now about 80. And all this weight loss has happened in the past 2 months, when he stopped coming to work because he was feeling ill. I almost cried when I saw him, but didn't. I cried a bit at home when I thought about his wives, his children, and all the other young women he's seduced.

One of my papayas, the biggest one on the tree, was stolen. Heads will roll if/when I catch the culprits, even if they are little kiddie heads, which I suspect they might be.

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WOW, what a sad, sad entry today!! But i'm really not feeling that bad! I went running again this morning with Alex, and it was terrific - the past few days I've gotten an increasing number of the 'damn, you are sweaty!' comments, but today I barely even broke a sweat until after we returned!! And I just had a great lunch in Mwanza town. AND I ran into Jonathan, a young man who makes and sells greeting cards here in town. He was very sick for a while, and himself looks to have gotten skinny, but is still full of energy and was SO happy to hear the news that I found a store to sell his cards for him back home [and that we're giving him 4 times more than what he asks for on the street here!]. I will try to get some pictures of the cards he makes up on the blog, but in the meantime they will be sold somewhere in Stevens Point, my mom has more info on this. This kid [he is older than me but very small, poor diet, he was a street boy here in Mwanza] has got moderate talent but monumental determination and perserverance, and it's so rewarding to help him out.

Ok, so that's a little cheerier. I'll wrap it up on that, time to go back to Misungwi, but first search around for fruit, since there isn't any at the busstand anymore...