Sometimes reality sets in

Today was the first day of the Growth and Development Summit. Overall, it was informative to attend, and there were probably over 500 people there from the 7 different Local Municipalities that make up the OR Tambo District Municipality. The Mayor from each municipality gave a presentation on what his/her respective municipality was doing toward Local Economic Development. I need to always remember that there is such a long way to go… but most of the talk today revolved around “We need to do…” rather than “We are doing…” or “We have done…”

Tomorrow at the Municipality itself, it is Health and HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. From what I understand, there are going to be a series of meetings in the morning, then in the afternoon it will be Sports Day (all going out for some sports and activities), followed by a braai.

HIV/AIDS is such a prevalent issue here, and you hear it discussed in meetings and in the open more often. For example, I understand there is a list that is kept confidential of those working in the Municipality who suffer from the disease – so it is understood why/when they stop showing up to work – or to anticipate when they will be off the payroll. Some of the statistics about average life expectancy and rising percentages of HIV/AIDS in South Africa (and Africa overall) are a staggering reality, but really about all the people with major health issues in general. It’s sad to see all the funerals that these people go to – there are days when people don’t show up to work because a family member or friend has died, and that is just understood. Sometimes when you ask someone how their weekend was, you get responses that they went to a funeral or two.

I had my own encounter this week. One of the workers in my department has been sick, and she was out a few days last week. She has had an ongoing cough, claims to be sweating a lot more than normal, and has some other sick symptoms. She went to see a doctor last week, so when I asked her yesterday morning how she was feeling, she told me she thought that she was better, but that her doctor told her she “should go get tested.” Tough to react when someone tells you that, and I wasn’t quite sure what to say. But I just told her that we are there to help her in any way and would support her, to let us know what we could do. And so I asked her if she would get tested and she just kept repeating “It’s too hard, Brian. It’s too hard…” I’m finding that facing some of the realities here really can be difficult at times, and it took me a little time to get back into gear and be able to focus on starting my Monday morning.