Tuesday, July 8th

The main focus of camp today was HIV and AIDS and I ran the Q + A session at the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and felt very confident while answering their questions. There is no feeling like speaking about something you are passionate about and you absolutely know has the potential to save a life someday. It was immediately apparent that they didn't understand that HIV and AIDS are not one in the same, which was what I tried to stress to them.

Especially amazing were the questions coming from the Love Life team. These are the people funded by the South African government to teach in schools about HIV, yet they hardly know anything about it!

Overall, I felt like the camp went very well today and they heard and understood enough to protect themselves from every day situations these kids will have to deal with HIV.

Zenzele, the HR representative (who actually worked with Alex and Rebecca in the past at the camps) joined us for dinner. He asked us a lot of questions about the US and seemed astounded that our parents were OK with our children dating in public, as it would be quite taboo in iNgwavuma).

We spent the rest of the night drinking our R18.00 bottle of wine ($2.00 or so) afterwhich I am thankful to still have vision in both eyes. We may have to splurge on a $4.00 bottle next time.

Vee (an IOC coordinator) drove past later after driving the US Presidential Funding Aide around all day, which is apparently one of their largest funders. (We also learned about a movie coming out soon called Road to iNgwavuma, which has Carlos Santana and Samuel L. Jackson being driven around the area and at iNgwavuma Orphan Care, which is where we are staying) Vee is an incredible person to speak to. He knows so much about the area and how to connect with the kids in a meaningful way. He told us about his frustration with the high rate of teenage pregnancy and wondered whether he was doing enough to curb the problem. He seemed particularly frustrated because he feels as though the information is there for the kids and they are ignoring it. After talking to Vee I knew I needed to talk with him more often. He is the rarest of combinations: smart, caring, passionate. It is great to see.