Editor’s note: Samantha H. is participating in the HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program.  This summer she will also be a part of the annual youth day camp that focuses on HIV/AIDS awareness and life skills for Tanzanian young people. Thanks for the post Samantha!

I have been here in Tanzania now for 4 weeks and I absolutely love it. I feel very at home here, my host family has accepted me with open arms. In fact last weekend my host mama took me to Moshi, a town about an hour and a half from Arusha. I had been looking forward to going to Moshi since I had arrived in Tanzania because that is where Kilimanjaro is. For the past few weeks I have been telling my mama that I wanted to see Kilimanjaro and that was one ( of many) things that I had to see before I left. The entire day in  Moshi it was cloudy and you couldn’t see anything, needless to say I was disappointed.  It was about 4 pm and we were sitting outside when the clouds parted and there it was,  Kilimanjaro! I couldn’t stop smiling, my mama, knowing how bad I wanted to see Kilimanjaro couldn’t stop smiling either. Kilimanjaro was amazing, it is hard to explain, there were times when it didn’t seem real.

Working here is also a lot of fun. I didn’t expect people here to be as open as they are to our coming in to talk about HIV. But the women we have taught in community trainings that last few weeks were very open and not embarrassed to ask questions. The people we have taught have been very curious, and like I said they ask a lot of questions which is great because there are many myths about HIV here.  I am looking forward to the next three weeks because we are starting day camp in  3 secondary schools. It will be a nice change of pace, the last 2 community trainings have all been older women. While there are times that I do miss home there is no where else I would rather be!