Former student is helping fight AIDS and HIV in Africa

Former UB student Gregory Pachmayr steps out of his one-room hut, constructed of cinderblock and a thatched roof, and takes a look around.

There is no electricity or running water, so he strolls over to the nearby bore hole on his compound to fill a bucket. The sun is setting, and once inside, he lights a candle for light. Later on, he washes using the bucket water, and falls asleep to the distant drumming of the local sangoma, a traditional healer.

A Peace Corps volunteer, Pachmayr has been stationed in Lesotho near South Africa since June 2004. He left his studies as a junior English and political science major after traveling to Cape Town with professor Shaun Irlam's study abroad program.

"I knew I wanted to get back to Africa and do something more than travel," Pachmayr said via email.

Partly inspired by his grandmother's fascination with the Peace Corps and the trip with Irlam, he signed a 27-month contract that will end August 2006.

One of 100 Peace Corps volunteers stationed in Lesotho, where the native language is SeSotho, Pachmayr spends his days teaching HIV and AIDS awareness, as well as life skills in schools and in the local prison. Currently, he is putting together an HIV/AIDS workshop for home health care workers and traditional healers.

"Whenever I get a chance to teach about HIV, I do it," he said. "Sometimes it's in a classroom, sometimes it's in an overcrowded taxi."

There is a great need in Lesotho for education, with up to 7,000 babies born with HIV every year, a number that has doubled in the past two years according to a UNICEF and government study.

"The HIV-prevalence rate in Lesotho is about 30 percent," he said. "Think about that, it's almost one in every three people. Look to your right, now look to your left. Either one of those people, or yourself is probably positive. That's how it is here. It's worse for young girls."

Pachmayr feels his efforts are paying off. The Basotho people are receptive and interested in learning.

"They know there is a problem, and they know they should help. But in the general population, there is some resistance," he said.

According to the Web site for CARE, a private international relief organization, unemployment for the country's 2.5 million inhabitants, 80 percent of whom live in rural areas, is on the rise. Pachmayr said this has had an effect on the spread of HIV, as young girls, unable to find jobs, often turn to prostitution to survive.

"Women can get more money for sex without condoms, increasing their risk of HIV infection," he said.

In general, Pachmayr described the Basotho people as "friendly and curious." Greeting each other is a significant cultural custom -- everyone is always asking each other where they are going, and where they are coming from.

"People are people, same as everywhere else," he said. "Mothers love their children, it's universal."

As a young student, Pachmayr is undeterred by the time commitment.

"Over the course of a lifetime, two years is nothing," he said. "It takes a long time to get integrated into the community. You need to build trust, and that takes time."

Pachmayr plans on continuing with his education when he returns to the United States.

"The time seemed right for me to join. I didn't have much tying me down," he stated. "I feel like this is a huge learning experience, the only difference is that I don't get a degree at the end of it."

For his services, Pachmayr receives a living allowance to cover his costs while he is there. At the end of his contract, the Peace Corps will provide him with a "readjustment allowance."

"It's a volunteer program, so it isn't that much," he said.

According to Pachmayr, the main Basotho food staple of the region is papa, or maize, which looks like mashed potatoes but with a stiffer consistency. He usually opts to cook for himself, mostly rice, beans or pasta.

Living such a simple existence, Pachmayr said it has made him appreciate what he had growing up in the United States.

"I still like nice things. Everyone does," he said. "I'm just as materialistic as I was before, which probably isn't as much as some people. But saying that I have no attachment to nice things would be a lie."

Pachmayr said he doesn't know yet if the work he's done with the Peace Corps has changed him in any way.

"I'm still living the experience," he said.