VCT unit

had an interesting day on saturday. my friend leanne is a volunteer with FLAS (family life association of swaziland). they deal with most aspects of sexual reproductive health. one service they offer is free AIDS testing. they have a VCT mobile unit (voluntary counselling and testing). it's basically a camper that has been turned into a lab for AIDS testing. it gets pulled by a big 4x4. 2 nurses and a diver go out into communities and offer free testing and HIV/AIDS education.

my friend megan started a very successful income generating project for 14 rural women. they make bags and are paid much higher than 'fair' wages. her bags are now being sold in 6 countries and the women who make the bags have been able to improve many areas of their lives.

on saturday leanne arranged for the VCT mobile unit to visit the community where megan is working. when we arrived 1 man and 7 women were waiting under a tree to be tested. within minutes more and more people showed up; i think in total 7 men and 30 women came.

the day began with an informative discussion on HIV/AIDS - how to become infected, prevention and other related topics. they discussed witch doctors too which i thought was really interesting. slowly people began getting tested. there wasn't a counsellor present so i'm not sure what kind of advice people received if they tested positive. the men also went first which i thought was interesting. it was an emotional experience for me. i wondered how many people were coping with their results. no one seemed upset after leaving the unit but perhaps it's just the reality of living here - you will probably become infected and without a doubt no someone who is.