You know...It's hard when real life kicks in. Real life is that people get HIV and then their lives change. I've been hanging out with some of the The Almond Tree, a group of people living with HIV that are participating in an income generating activity to become self sufficient. Yeah they make things and are bonding as a group, but their lives are still so hard. They have to take medicine everyday. And finding ways to sell what they make is difficult. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a disease that I knew would never go away.

Real life is also when a mother passes HIV to her children. Yesterday a boy came in...very sick. He was maybe five years old. He was infected with HIV at birth from his mother. Now his mother is dead and his aunt takes care of him. But she has not been giving him his medicine everyday so now he is very sick. Seeing this little boy crying with a high fever, my heart broke. He will never be able to live a normal life. He will have to take medicine everyday for the rest of his life. If this is not injustice...then I don't know what is. Working in another country is great. It gives a picture of life different than what I've grown up knowing. It's exciting and a great adventure...but when real life sets in...it gets tough.