Wednesday we had a speaker from the Department of Health in the Western Cape named Zetu. She worked in the clinic for primary health care - the point where everyone starts who needs medical attention. She and her staff see about 200 people everyday including people with hypertension, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, and HIV (chronic diseases). As of last year South Africa provides antiretroviral (ARVs) to anyone who is HIV positive for free provided by the government. This is an amazing accomplishment for the South African heath care industry because 1 in 5 people are infected with HIV/AIDS in the country. In South Africa, however, there are only two lines of treatment - when the disease becomes resistant to the first line of ARVs, a second one is given, but once the disease is resistant to that, there are no other options for treatment. In the United States there are more ARV lines available. Zetu states that the stigma for HIV is so high that people will deny that they have it and refuse treatment, and then continue participating in risky behavior (thus increasing other people's chances of infection). She allowed us to visit her HIV support group this week as well, and there were a lot of people there. The group was quite, but she said it was because some of them don't speak English very well and didn't want to speak in Xhosa because we wouldn't understand them. For those who did speak though, they were very open about their HIV status and seem to be pretty well educated on the subject. Zetu feels that education is the key to fighting HIV, but says it is hard to educate people because not everyone pays attention. The current methods are too passive and people are not seeing the big picture of the extent to this disease. In the culture here, it is also difficult for women to engage in safe sex if their partner is in control.
After the speaker we went to Pricilla's house to provide lunch for her and her eleven kids and bring them a lot of toys we brought with to donate. I spent most of my time with one young boy (I didn't get his name), and he really liked my camera. I sat him on my lap and showed him how it worked - I don't think he really cared about how it actually worked, but he was really entertained with pushing the button, seeing the flash, and seeing the image on the back. It was nice to give Pricilla a break for the afternoon; we were able to provide a meal that she would otherwise have to scrape together, and we took her kids off her hands for a little while so she could sit back and relax for once.
The evening dinner tonight was fun and involved dancing once again. Every dinner seems similar in that we eat, chat, and dance, but they are different in that our bond gets stronger and we continue to learn new things about each other.
Culture things I am noticing:
1. When walking in a group or riding in the car, you're supposed to sit boy, girl, boy girl.
2. Religion is a huge part of the community we are staying in.
3. Everyone honks their horn when driving...I'm never sure if it is an upset honk or a greeting honk, but it is constant and everyone does it. It makes me think of Mitch Hedberg: "I think we should only get 3 honks a month on the car horn. Then someone cuts you off, you press the horn and nothing happens. You're like, "Crap! I wish I hadn't seen Ricky on the sidewalk!"
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