EIL Intercultural Learning

Chilecito is a small city with a main plaza. This plaza is where I hang out, drink coffee and meet with my friends. The plaza is only a 5 minute walk from my host house so I am in walking distance  from the banks, shops and post office. The landscape is extremely dry here, with the only water supply coming from the Famatina Mountains. I feel very lucky to have been granted the individual travel award to volunteer in this beautiful place.

As our final week here in South Africa looms, special moments and memories have already formed. After spending time with the NGO, we then moved on the HIV and AIDS Clinic, where we are volunteering now. This is a day hospital with a special ARV unit (the medication taken when you are HIV+ and your CD4 count is less than 250). The unit is divided into sections where there are doctors, counsellors, nutritionists and personal advocates. All of them are there to help and support clients who have contracted HIV.

Another lovely sun shining day in Mexico City, The weather is to die for, not too hot neither is it too cold. It rains in the evenings mostly which is lovely as it reduces the pollution in the air and the water cleans the streets.

Today felt like an “Irish Day” here in South Africa as the sky clouded over with grey mist and heavy rainfall. However, this rainfall was a blessing for the South Africans as it allowed the reservoirs and lakes to fill with fresh water to prepare for the annual drought of the Summer to follow. People seemed quite happy with the change in the weather pattern from the last month of blistering sun and dry earth to a more damp, wet and cold atmosphere.

Firstly I just want to apologise I haven´t been able to blog as much as I like which means I have to try cram everything into one blog, i´ve been trying to keep up with the blogs, loved reading Aisling the other travel award winners blogs, I am not able to blog so often as I have limited internet access but I will try get everything more or less that I have done so far,with great diffic

It is hard to believe that three weeks has passed by already! While there are times when it feels like both Aisling and I have been here for much longer, there are other moments when it feels like each day passes us by so quickly.

For the past three weeks we have been working with an organisation called Sothemba AIDS Action, which focuses on raising awareness of HIV & AIDS in Cape Town. It is a small organisation based in the suburbs of Bellville just outside of the city in Cape Town. It consists of three full time staff and seven part time staff.