Day Five

I've been in country five days now, and each has been a learning experience. Yesterday was "food parcel" day at the Zwane Centre. We made over 300 parcels, each with about 25 pounds of flour, sugar, melie meal (white corn meal), and rice, plus soup mix, seasonings, candy and a chicken (once frozen, it was well on its way to thawed by the time we gave them out). About 75 people picked up their parcels yesterday, with the rest being distributed throughout the rest of the week. One woman I talked with said this food would last her and her seven children about a full month when supplemented with vegetables and the occassional meat item. All that for about $40, all of it donated by friends of Open Arms of Minnesota.

(Let me know if you want to get invovled. There will be another parcel distribution on December 1st, World AIDS Day.)

It took over four hours to get the food from the market, something that should have taken an hour at most. There is a real different service expectation here. Things move slowly, and people just take it in stride. It'd be interesting to see how Nordstrom would do here. There were about 20 people working at the Centre, so once we got everything in place it moved pretty fast. When we were done the Zwane AIDS support group chorus sand and did a short play about living with HIV in South Africa. Even though it was in Xhosa it was very clear that people with HIV still carry a major stigma, and that more people need to accept and support them.

We closed out the day at a braai (barbecue) restaurant in Guguletu. Boerwors (sausages) and lamb, with spicy baked beans and salad. I really felt South African as I waddled out of the place.

Today, we spent the full day in Khayelitsha, the largest township in the Western Cape province. Khayelitsha has about 500,000 people, 70,000 of whom have HIV/AIDS. We first went to the local office of Monkeybiz, the employment and empowerment project for women in township women. These women make beaded dolls and other items, some of museum quality and all cute and colorful. Some of you may have seen their work in my office or attended the big sale in December. We went to the homes of four beaders and we were able to see first-hand what Monkeybiz has meant as far as improving the lives and conditions of the women and their families. It is truly remarkable what this organization has done to take people out shacks and into brick homes.

This afternoon we spent at the Treatment Action Campaign. This group is a major force in HIV awareness and education, not just here but internationally as well. They are also educating people on tuberculosis, since about half of all HIV-infected people also have TB and multi-drug resistant strains are on the rise here. They go door-to-door in the townships teaching people about HIV and safe sex. They hand out condoms at taverns and shabeens (unlicensed taverns), and make sure people are aware of what violence against girls and women is doing to the townships. It's all a matter of control - when most men are unemployed, and questioning what they can add to society, they try to seize control wherever they can. I'm hoping to work with this group along the way.

More to come.