Stop SIDA Tabac

Hello everyone! Sorry for my long absence from blogging. I guess that is a good sign that I have been keeping busy, right? Well, here is a little update on the work I've been doing. My main projects so far have been visits to the prenatal clinic, classes at the girls mentoring center, and health sensibilisations in the community on a variety of topics. In addition to this I have recently begun work with a non-governmental organization (NGO) called "Stop SIDA Tabac" (SST). SIDA is the French acronym for AIDS and tabac, as you could probably guess, is French for tabacco.

SST is a great organization run by Mauritanians. They do presentations for school children and the community about the harmful effects of smoking. They advocate for national laws related to smoking, such as making it illegal for a 4-year-old child to buy cigarettes, limiting smoking in public locations, and putting warnings on tobacco packaging in languages other than French with pictures for those who are unable to read. They also hold 5-day smoking cessation clinics each month where they assist smokers in quitting by providing them with information and social support.

The month of May is the international month for smoking cessation, therefore SST had many activities throughout the month, including a poster contest, a poetry contest, and a football tournament. These activities were in addition to the sensibilisations and cessation program that they do every month.

My involvement with the NGO so far has been observation of their activities, taking pictures for them to put on their website and in their informational leaflets, and assisting them as needed. I am also on the lookout for other opportunities to help them gain more exposure and recruit more participants for their cessation programs, as well as help them to develop more activities for AIDS awareness and education.

There are many pictures posted of SST and their activities in our online photo album if you are interested in seeing more.

Other news in Mauritania:
- Elections, originally scheduled for June 6, have been delayed until July 18.
- New RIM PC trainees will be arriving later this month! Inshallah!
- June 21st will be the one year mark for our time in Mauritania.
- My counterpart's sister Hawa had a baby on May 8! I made her a baby blanket...my first ever crochet project (thanks for the yarn and crochet hooks Dad & Lisa!).

Hope you are all doing well! We always appreciate hearing how things are going for you all by email, letter, phone call, etc, so don't be shy. Also, big thanks to everyone who continues to send us care packages! You are so incredibly thoughtful, and we really appreciate it! We miss you!