Day 3 in the Congo.

I didn’t want to wake up this morning for some reason. I really hadn’t felt the affect of my jet lag till today. I was quite shocked that I transitioned so quickly without having naps and strange sleeping patterns. When i did finally open my eyes, I almost had to pinch myself because for a moment I thought I was at home in Austin in my own bed. The nights have been very cool here. I am very lucky to have such nice weather in Africa.

We headed out mid-morning to not sure of the schedule for the day. All plans constantly seem to change at a moments notice. We pulled up to a medical clinic / church compound. We sat with one of the professors who teaches on Aids there and interviewed him for about an hour about their education program he had in place. He seemed to know a lot about Aids, but had few materials to distribute to the community to teach them. After the meeting, we went to tour the compound and facilities and met some children in the area and began to play and photograph with them. The next thing i knew, we had to leave. Apparently the head honcho wasn’t very happy about this because the clinic isn’t in very good condition and he is very conscious about this being documented. If we wanted to film, they would have to fix it up and make it look “good ” for us to do so. We tried to explain to them that it was for their benefit that we document what it was like at this moment. If we show the way it REALLY is, more people will want to help. He threatened us to call the police if we didn’t leave right away. We got back in our vehicle and drove away.
We came back to our compound where we met a woman who is living with Aids. She was absolutely beautiful, dressed in her traditional clothing with a giant grin lighting up her face. I decided to try my french with her and see if she could understand me. I took a semester of french in college, but only got as far as describing family members and basic conversation. Shockingly, we somewhat communicated when we started to talk about our families. I showed her a photograph of mine and she wanted to know who each person was. She told me about her 6 children and her husband that had already passed away from Aids. We took her outside where Josh ( the videographer ) set up a professional interview. She told her story to us in a very bold and strong view. She is a positive woman who wants to speak about what she lives with because she wants more to know how they can help people who have Aids. Her biggest concern seemed to be funding for the education of her children when she passed away. One year in a government school costs about $150 US dollars per child.

After the interview, we went to meet another women with Aids. Both are part of a support group here in the capitol for women living with it. They are being threatened by their landlord to be kicked out because they talk so openly to everyone about having HIV. This has caused them to want to move outside of the city and live together in their own makeshift community. Many people have Aids and don’t want to be tested because of the shame it brings them from their families and friends. They also have false information that they hear as to what HIV is.

Today was a heavy day with a lot of learning on my part. I took each of these women aside before and after the interviews and photographed them. I also brought my polaroid camera and gave each woman a picture of themselves to give to their families.

I’ve attached a few photos from the day.
Tomorrow starts with early morning church in English ( whew thank goodness ) at a Zimbabwean church.

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