THE MIX OF EMOTIONS AS A VOLUNTEER IN ZAMBIA

By Katie Kampa: 

"As I complete the last few days of a ten week internship with Tiny Tim & Friends, it’s a great time for me to look back and reflect on the experiences I’ve had with the organization.  While TTF is a rather small NGO, I have been amazed at the large number of activities that they are involved in and the number of clients they manage to reach. 

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"THE DEDICATED STAFF AT TTF AND THE GRACIOUS DONORS.....
 ARE CREATING A POSITIVE CHANGE ON A DAILY BASIS"

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Since arriving in Zambia 10 weeks ago, I’ve had the opportunity to learn so much from administrative and operational tasks, counseling and testing sessions, experience how their paeditric clinic works, work in the community to provide HIV testing and counselling , and learn more about the current progress and trends related to HIV in Zambia while attending the National Paediatric ART Review Conference hosted by the Ministry of Health and EGPAF.

Volunteering with Tiny Tim & Friends as a student of Public Health at Tulane University, I've been able to put many of the skills I've learned in the classroom into practice.  After completing research and analysis of the 2013-2014 Zambia Demographics and Health Survey, it’s quite promising to see the rates of HIV transmission steadily decreasing throughout the country while the number of people receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment has continued to grow over the last several years.  I see these numbers as a reminder as to why organizations like TTF are so important in the fight against AIDS.  The dedicated staff members at TTF and the gracious donors supporting their work, are creating positive change on a daily basis within communities in desperate need of just that.  In a country where one in every 13 children dies before reaching their fifth birthday, it often can be difficult to recognize that progress is in fact occurring.

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