7/18/16 Nkosi's Haven.

Today we headed to Nkosi's haven in conjunction with Infinite Families; helps students that are either infected or affected with HIV/AIDS. It was founded by 12 year old Nkosi Johnson who was born HIV positive. He envisioned a safehaven for children who are affected or impacted by the disease can go to receive love, care and support.  Founded in 2006, Infinite Family is a global mentoring organization dedicated to using technology to allow adults around the world to step in where there are not enough local role models. Our volunteer mentors teach, discuss, challenge, encourage, befriend and love their Net Buddy mentees – they are agents of self-reliance. By providing such key resources and support networks, Infinite Family inspires and motivates teens and pre-teens to develop the confidence, skills and global worldview to build a better life. (Infinite Families website)

Our meetings were split in two sessions. The first session was about the issues the staff encounters when dealing with the children. Some of those issues are:
• Retention
• Engagement/ commitment
• Communication/ language barrier
• Disrespecting adults to impress friends
• Family issues/ physical & sexual abuse
• Pregnancy due to poverty and "ends to a means"
• Parental support

It was an honor that they felt as if we could possibly provide them solutions to challenges that they face with their youth. The staff were jotting down the notes vigorously. I wish we are able to follow up with them to see their feed back and the results of them implementing the suggestions.

For the second session, we were broken into groups. One of the my group members, Taylor and I had to tackle the topic of racism. Students were discussing inter and intra racism,  encountering racism in real life, how Nelson Mandela encountered and dealt with racism and opinions about America. During the discussions, one of the boys said I had nice teeth. The students put me on the spot and wanted to know about what gives me strength, my views on racisim, how have I overcome racism and I provided them background info regarding what motivates me.   
Those kids were very bright and provided an inside scoop about the racism they observed in their schools. For example, certain white teachers favor the white children more than the colored and black children. They also described the intra-racism between skin colors among the black people. That was a tough subject to tackle. We also got to know their future goals. I think the children appreciate people wanting to get to know them. One girl said that I remind her of her. Cause I am outspoken like her.