we are all the same

Greg, Paul and I went to a lecture on AIDS in South Africa, taught by a local doctor from Crossroads who has been on many trips to Africa and went on the Mamelodi trip last year. I learned not only about AIDS/HIV, but culture, poverty and compassion.

There are many orphans and many people dying due to treatable illness complicated by AIDS.

I have never been exposed to any environment like that...I can only imagine that it will change me forever. I also know it will be difficult to leave everyone I've met behind and return to the U.S.
I feel like this lecture made everything a little more real for me. It made everyone seem more human to me, instead of statistics or even "South Africans"...people are just people and I am just like them, I just happened to be born in the U.S. and like them, I had no control over where I was born.

I am going to read a book with Paul:

We Are All the Same: The Story of a Boy’s Courage and a Mother’s Love by Jim Wooten
If you only read one book before going to South Africa – read this one. It portrays a wonderful story of a young boy infected with AIDS and his courageous battle, but also gives a great brief history of the country and the AIDS crisis and the government’s reaction at the same time. A quick read that you won’t be able to put down.