...In which Sarah and Esy are blessed by 40 traditional healers...

After welcoming singing and dancing, our plates were piled high with stew and phutu, a maize couscous, and chakalaka, which we were overjoyed to find, is the same thing as pico de gallo salsa, sans cilantro. It was part of a series of conferences organized by Phum and a local doctor who hopes to integrate traditional healers with the local hospital. It's an immensely important step for both parties; there are many people who (understandably...) don't trust western medicine at all, and some who take traditional medicine in conjunction with the pills, sometimes a deadly combination.

One of the healers mentioned the need for an awareness campaign in the local areas; the posters and information distributed by the clinics could be made much clearer and more immediate through graphics. The few that are pinned to the walls are long lists in English, in a tiny font, and full of those long, crazy disease and drug names; not so useful to a predominately Zulu area, in a country with 12 official languages. Our patient M. seemed to be confused about the infectiousness of HIV, and there is little mention of preventing transmission while on ARVs. The national ad campaign on HIV awareness is well-funded, and I hope that they are strong in their school outreach programs, but the billboards have been simplified to the point where no message gets across (ex: 'HIV: get attitude'). Obviously, the depths of this problem are difficult to sum up in one shot, but I'm trying my hand at some possible solutions to present. Open call on suggestions to fellow designers!

Both the doctor + healers shared their beliefs about where the virus comes from, and how it is passed; there are strong theories tied to politics (the rise of AIDS in conjunction with the switch to the ANC government in '94), race (one healer asked why only Africans get it), and loss of cultural traditions (a woman who hasn't waited 6 months after giving birth or who has sex after being widowed poisons the man). The doctor's openness and respectfulness to these ideas was essential; if he had said 'that's absurd!' and tried to push his own agenda, then a wall would have gone up where there are already so many walls to begin with, furthering the division on (and prevention of) treatment. Both sides put aside their pride and listened openly; a rare thing, and bloody simple, too.

D.'s family served us the freshest chicken possible; it's something to watch a blinking bird become a perfectly dressed meal. It was so enthralling to film that I didn't realize how boring footage can be, if you stay focused on just one thing. Shots on television shows rarely linger longer than ten seconds; it sounds dizzying, but try counting sometime. Our eyes dart around constantly, taking in so many things at once that we don't have the time to put words to. I'm excited to see how Sarah slices these hundreds of hours up into digestible seconds. I also carried a five gallon bucket of water on my head. It's not easy looking so graceful...