World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is actually December 1st, which I think is Monday, but I'm not going to be around then. Fortunately, my village celebrated it today instead, so I got to go to an HIV Awareness event at our local clinic. It went as all South African events of this sort went: about ten people gave "short" speeches of anywhere from ten to twenty minutes, with a keynote address at the end just about the time everyone has fallen asleep. I think this happens because it's important to make sure that everyone who is important to the community gets his or her turn at the podium, but it really is not fun for the audience. Between each speaker there's some entertainment to break up the monotony, usually traditional dancing and maybe some HIV-related dramas. This particular campaign actually had some great breathers, mainly because they recruited a bunch of old women to sing traditional Tsonga dances and then, just when you think you're going to die of dehydration mixed with boredom, they played soccer! None of them really knew how to, but they also knew that that was the funny part, so they hammed it up.

After the soccer thing, I had been there about two hours (not counting the fact that it started an hour late), and I really was pretty badly dehydrated so I thought that maybe I could sneak out and go home. My host mom was organizing the event, but I felt that she would forgive me. However, on my way to freedom, I was ambushed and kidnapped by another of the women organizing the event, who works at the clinic, and forced to stay for the rest. However, we did take a break to go inside to a room with a fan and I found a tap at which I got some water, so death was delayed a few hours. This woman also made me pose in pictures with her after the event, which is awkward--it always makes me feel like one of those actors at Disneyland whose sole job is to wander around and pose as Cinderella or Mickey Mouse in photos. Including eating, the whole thing took a little over four hours.

The event was reasonably well attended by older members of the community, but there were very few youth there, other than the kids recruited to put on the HIV/AIDS dramas. It's good that the community has this sort of event, and that the chief and other prominent people attend it, but it's unfortunate that so few of the people who could benefit most from it attend.

There was of course much food afterwards, and on our way out Masingita and I grabbed a few extra cans of cold drink. She's decided that we should start bribing the girls not to cry. I guess if I'm seen as the bearer of cold drink, it will make me less scary to them. I'm not sure how well it worked. The past few weeks, Xihluki and Simeko have switched m.o.'s: now Xihluki is cautiously excited to see me, and Simeko bursts into hysterical tears. Maybe it's just a phase. Anyway, they got cold drink, but it may take another dosage before we see any effects.

Tomorrow I'm off to LST in Durban. After that, GTOT (General Training of Trainers) in Marapyane. After that, vacation. Don't expect too much in the way of updates until January. Happy Holidays, everyone!