Day 2 Learning

Second day at Gugulethu  clinic and I tried to go in with a positive attitude. Then Andrew told us we would be in our same areas and I was bummed. Since I spent most of my time at tea yesterday, I knew today would be different, but it turned out to be pretty much the same. We were placed in the HIV clinic which was a small room with two nurses who talked to patients in Xhosa. We observed the nurses fill out the forms with the patients. Occasionally we were able to ask questions or the nurse would come show us a form or something. The importance of confidentiality was always in my mind and I kept feeling like I shouldn't have been looking at the forms they showed us. What I found most interesting were the posters for practicing safe sex and what to do if you find out your pregnant. The posters are similar to what I've seen in the US, but it just felt different. Like when I read them I imagined a person with HIV reading it and seriously taking what I said into consideration. I think in america HIV is one of those things that we think "oh, that can't happen to me." since it isn't as prevalent at home, if we have unprotected sex the first thing you worry about is an std or pregnancy. Reflecting back on it, I am not happy with the way I perceived those posters. I considered them more of a necessity in the African clinics than in the American ones which is not the case. HIV is a serious condition that can happen to anyone if the right precautions aren't taken. I guess because HIV/AIDS isn't the top priority in the news, Americans tend to take it lightly. So far this experience in increasing my knowledge of HIV/AIDS and breaking some of the preconceived notions I had about the disease. 

After volunteering, we heading to one of the wonders of the world to have dinner. Table Mountain is the mountain range associated with Cape Town. It is definitely a must see! As its name suggests, it is literally flat at the top. The view of the city and ocean were absolutely breath taking. When I was younger I always wondered what it would be like to be in a cloud. Now I know! The clouds rolled in as the sun began to set and we were all surrounded by the clouds. It was kind of scary because we couldn't even see the edge of the mountain! We were literally on cloud nine!