End of the AIDS awareness week and a bit of frustration concerning the rest of my time at DGS

On friday, an AIDS awareness event was held at a bar known as Soul where "Herman Death Willy Tail," a band from Scotland staying with us at the volunteer house, sang their song about HIV/AIDS and performed some of their other songs. Outside of the restaurant, volunteers including Rashmi and I tried to get people to where ribbons to show their support for people living with HIV/AIDS and to introduce them to the Wake Up Pune campaign. We both understood that some people wouldn't wear the ribbons b/c of the silence, ignorance, fear, stigma and therefore the discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS; however, at the same time we were kind of annoyed at those who didn't want the ribbons because we felt that in America and especially at Duke, most people and most students would want to show their support. We were handing out ribbons again at the candlelight vigil on MG road on Sunday night. Most people were willing as they began to see others with the ribbons...especially all of the street children who were wearing at least 3 each. So many people came to our booth, picked up brochures, sheets, bootcamp for volunteers, some took quizzes that tested their general knowledge about HIV/AIDS and how it has affected Pune. On the other hand, there were a few that were unwilling. After we asked them to wear their ribbon, they didn't even reply no, rather they just turned their backs to us as if we weren't alive. Maybe it was because we were wearing "HIV Positive" shirts on to represent the campaign (positive about education, awareness and support), but it was just a ribbon. They acted as if we were aking them to contract HIV. Later on that night, we had a vigil and it was so great to see SO MANY people show up. The walking plaza was completely filled, the crowd was on the sidewalk and in the street as far as the eye could see from the stage watching the program, which consisted of dancing by the DG kids and singing by 3 Indian Idols. It was so great to see that many people "wake up" and realize that if 1% of a population has HIV/AIDS is considered to be an epidemic, then the >12% of people living w/ HIV/AIDS in Pune along is something that simply cannot happen, especially if awareness can help prevent an increase in this percentage.
On Saturday we visited the Intravenous Drug User site in Pimpri which is a slum located in Pune, but it's not associated with DGS, rather with the Sahara and the Shara NGOs. It looked like a tin box and felt like we were in an oven...and that's because it was funded by the government. It's a place where they substitute the injection drugs with an oral substitute known as Addnok. They eventually want to wean them off the injection as well as the oral drug to reduce the presence of opportunistic infections. Two ID users told their success stories and it seemed to deeply affect those that were listening. It was definitely something we'v never experienced before, seeing it first-hand that is.
As far as our project goes, our meeting was cancelled on Saturday and changed to Monday so that Hans could attend. However, we didn't have the meeting today either. Again, I'm frustrated because I feel a little lost in terms of what the rest of my stay here will be like...will I have a long term project that I can be engaged in, or will I be volunteering from day to day on random projects that need to be done. Hopefully tomorrow (Tuesday) I'll have a better idea. Rashmi feels that she could take a greater interest in a project that really needs here, such as DISHA or the IDU site, and it looks like I may be incorporating awareness about HIV/AIDS into the SureStart program.