Friday and Saturday

I had 79 final year students for the Prevention class on Friday and I had a little bit of stage fright for this one. I'm very happy about how it came out though. On a certain level it feels like if I do nothing else but that one class while I'm here, then my time will have been well spent. It was actually very good that they gave me two hours because, with this subject matter, it can take a while for a group that large to loosen up. And they did end up asking questions, though so quietly that I had to run all over the auditorium just so that I could hear each one. I doubt that they've heard sex and drugs talked about so frankly in that setting before. They seemed really grateful to finally be addressing these issues. And the beauty part was, at the end after I'd finished, a young male nursing student came up to me and wanted to talk about his girlfriend who is HIV+ while he is not. He wanted to know if what they had been doing was safe, how he could remain safe and still be loving with her and, also, how to keep her healthy. They don't start people on the cocktail here until their CD4 count hits 200. The new guidelines recommend starting by 350. His girlfriend's count was at 285. He is so frustrated and frightened for her. But it was a wonderful discussion. I'm hoping that in the final 2 weeks that I'm here, more students will come up and talk to me about prevention issues they may not have been able to discuss in an open auditorium filled with their peers.

After work, my two compatriots and I headed to Hlane, a game reserve about 1 1/2 hours away in Swaziland. We stayed over night in the camp and our cabin was actually 14 km within. We ended up driving thru the camp in the dark and every time we came up to an electrified gate, which needed opening and closing in order to get the car thru and keep the more dangerous animals away from the campers, I was the one to run out of the car while Betty and Linda kept an eye out. The next day they took this picture of me in front of one of the gates. What can I say, I'm a bit more nimble, perhaps. Or scared. You choose. Meantime, we still haven't seen any cats. They sleep in the shade of the deep brush during the heat of the day (and boy is it hot!) so they're difficult to spot in the summertime. I did see a crocodile kill an impala, drag it into the water, and flip it round and round. I know it's the circle of life and all but it was incredibly upsetting and disturbing. Yet, undeniably fascinating too. Very Mutual of Omaha.

And check out this great picture I took of trees (that have been decimated by elephants) at sunset.