Canadiana Backpackers, voted best hostel in Toronto?
We often, very often, have guests staying at our hostel who are travelling with a purpose. They are usually socially committed, environmentally conscious and? focused individuals. We had a young lady named Shawna with us for a week. She was here for her “orientation week” with a social service agency that sends young, educated volunteers to third world countries.
She is off to Tanzania to work on a program to promote AIDS awareness. As a former resident of Southern Africa for almost three decades, I’m quite certain that it will be a project that will be, at once,? frustrating, daunting and at times, maddening; but ultimately, rewarding.
If you have? the opportunity? to experience staying in hostels, you will meet young (an old) travellers in search of adventure. You? may also find that they? gain? a cultural awareness by seeing how people live in different countries. But individuals like Shawna have an opportunity to see and learn much more. Travellers (tourists) normally see, even third world countries, at their “best”. On the other hand,? Shawna will contend with a deadly serious “pandemic” that afflicts? virtually all of sub-Saharan Africa.
It has long been established that the poorer nations of the world can ill afford the drugs needed to combat the deadly AIDS menace. So it is? singularly important? to foster an understanding of the causes of the disease and thereby prevent further infections.? ?
Shawna will both live and work among? the local residents and we look forward to hearing from her (and others) of the experiences and successes? they might have in this all important struggle. ?
Hello Canadiana,
Sorry for the long delay…internet service has not been great! Thanks for letting me know about the blog posting and also thanks for supporting my trip. Things have been going really well. I am working with an organization known as Student Partnership Worldwide Tanzania. This is a local NGO that focuses on the empowerment of youth. The basic idea of the organization is that they train and educate youth on issues of HIV/AIDS, stigma, discrimination, gender relations and various other issues. These youth then go out into rural communities to train and educate other youth on these topics. This process not only gives youth valuable life-skills and work experience but it also involves them in the development and implementation of intervention programs. This is a unique approach to development work and it is designed to both build the capacity of young Tanzanians and be very sustainable. My work has been primarily in research and proposal writing as this is a niche within the organization that my skills and abilities fit nicely into. If you are interested in learning more the website for this organization is http://www.spwtz.org
Thanks again and warm wishes to all the Canadiana family!
Shawna