02-08-08 Cape Town South Africa: 0715 hrs. It’s hard to put into words, some of the things I have seen over the last few days. Cape Town is a very beautiful part of the world, that’s for sure. It reminds me a lot of the northeast coast of Australia, with all the bright water and blue sky. There are a lot of mountains here and they make the skyline extremely captivating. It is also a city of great contrasts. Very rich and criminally poor living side by side like two separate worlds. It’s as if they don’t know the other exists but I am very sure they all do. I went to a clinic that treats HIV and AIDS patients. The small facility handles up to 250 patients a day, with one doctor and three nurses. Somehow they do it. Incredible people. I met some of the staff, I don’t know where they get their steadiness from. Nothing like standing by the gate and watching a 15 year-old girl, HIV positive along with her small daughter, walk by and go into the clinic. I also spent the better part of a day at a local township that holds thousands of people, again, there’s not much for so many but they make it work as best they can. These are people with no comfort zone that you can readily see. Some have radios, the occasional car but for the most part, they struggle and survive. Children were everywhere and as always, they’re all beautiful and funny and completely amazing. As to their future, who knows what will be. I met some of the people who run the place and all of them are completely heroic. They know what the bottom line is and they have no illusions. They told me that the only way out of this is education. I went to the small school on the premises and met a lot of school children and it was great to see the concern of the teachers and how seriously they take all this. Again, they know what the deal is and they are holding on fast. Then, after a twenty minute drive, I am back on the coast and it’s sushi and good times. It’s a lot to get your head around.