Step Into Africa

This weekend I went and saw a presentation called Step Into Africa, it takes each person through the life of a child affected by AIDS in Africa, all of the stories are based on true events and were approved by parents or guardians. It was an amazing and powerful exhibit.  It asked you to put yourself in the mind set of that certain child, I had a little girl named Mathabo.  Going through and hearing her story and seeing just part of what her life consisted of just made me want to go over there and help her and any of her friends. 
    After hearing about her life the tour brought me into a clinic were i was tested for HIV/AIDS, really my hand was just stamped with a negative or positive sign.  However just sitting there waiting for my name to be called I began to feel nervous, even though I knew it wasn’t real. I can only imagine what Mathabo really went through as she waited for her results.  I walked up to the window and the lady stamped my hand with a black negative sign.  As i left the clinic i saw my friend waiting in an isolation area, her hand had a red plus sign on it.
    This wasn’t even real but I felt for Mathabo how scary it must have been to wait for such a serious test result and how so many of her friends and family must be affected by the disease.  As I left the clinic I read more about Mathabos life and then was led into a prayer room.  The walls were filled with pictures of the people of Africa, some of the pictures had the red plus sign on them.  As I looked at all of those pictures I couldn’t hold it in i just cried. I cried for the mothers and father, the sister and brothers, and for the fact that I couldn’t tell each of the people in those pictures that there was hope. 
    After praying I left the prayer room and went to a place where the walls were filled with prayers written by the people that went on the exhibit, there were thousands of them, prayers to God and promises to the children that they would help. it was amazing.
    It was a really great experience and I highly recommend to go see it if it comes your way.