It is hard to find men in the villages. Many men go to South Africa to work in the mines, returning occasionally to Lesotho to visit their wives and families, bringing with them the deadly virus.  The ravages of HIV/Aids have left multitudes of orphan survivors to be raised by grand parents or in some cases, living completely alone and unsupervised.  It is hard to find young people for farm work which, in combination with draught, has left many people starving in remote villages. It is no necessary to go far to find hungry people. They ask you anytime, anywhere for whatever is in your hand.  

Basotho (the word for the people of Lesotho) seem to lack any sensitivity to temperature. It is around 32 degrees during the day and most people are wearing a blanket, woolen hat, or leather jacket. It is an odd sight for new visitors.

I went along with Elizabeth on a community outreach project funded by the NGO, PSI (Population Services International) to the remote mountain village of Menkhoaneng where the villagers came to a mobile clinic set up for HIV/Aids voluntary testing and counseling.  While waiting for the pre testing educational session to begin, I was entertained by villagers with traditional singing and dancing.  I took many photos and video of them.  Some of the villagers took a liking to the Nepalese folk song playing on my MP3, Jhaymma Jhaymma and even attempted to sing some of the words.  Most of the attendees were women, very few men seem to be interested in or willing to test for HIV.

Two PSI counselors sat in separate classrooms, available to anyone wishing to test.  I was invited to witness one of the individual counseling and testing sessions.  The test is very simple.  A small prick is made in the finger and a drop of blood is placed on each of two test strips.  While awaiting the result, which takes about 3 minutes, the client is asked a number of questions for data collection purposes.  Everything is confidential and no names are recorded.  Once the survey is complete, the counselor asks the client if he/she is ready to receive their result.  Negative is indicated by only one line appearing on the test strips, two horizontal lines means positive.  In the test that I sat in on, the result was thankfully negative and the client was counseled on the importance of remaining negative.  On this day, a total of 30 villagers were tested and 6 tested positive for the HIV virus.  At the end of the day, free condoms are distributed.  I don’t know how many people actually use them.

On another day, Elizabeth took me to the her  clinic at the government hospital where clients are treated on an outpatient basis for HIV/Aids and where ARV drugs (Anti Retro Virals) are distributed.  There were many very sick people lying under trees and sleeping anywhere on the hospital grounds while waiting to be seen.  I helped her process the clients who were having blood drawn on that day, recording their names.  There were 22 people having blood drawn, all of whom had just tested positive for HIV and were having follow up lab work done. 

At the end of our work at the clinic, I tested for HIV.  Only one line showed up on the test strip.  Negative.

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लेसोथो को प्रयोगशालामा गरियो एड्स परिक्षण