For the past four weeks I have been participating in an AIDS Counseling Course through the local clinic in Jeffrey's Bay.  Our class consisted of 17 people from various organizations including AIM and YWAM.  There were also a few people from the townships.  Dr. Bill Hiscutt taught the course and he was very excited to see people from the community take in interest in the course.  The people who are affected by AIDS will most likely accept the facts and the counseling from someone who can relate with their everyday lives.  
     The first week of our course focused on the counseling.  We learned the basic steps in providing emotional support, explaining the risks of HIV, and explaining behavioral risks linked to diseases.  The second week's main focus was on the transmission of the disease.  The main ways of transmission are through unprotected sex, mother to child, and sharing needles.  We also got to hear some personal stories of people who were affected in different ways.  I believe this was a definite wake up call to a lot of people in our course, including myself.  The third week was an extremely interesting week of demonstrations given by the nurses in the clinic.  That's all I'm going to say about week 3… Our final week was centered on the VCT.  (Voluntary Counseling and Testing)  We got all of the facts on the test, and how to actually give the test to someone.  The test takes about 7 minutes.  If the test has 1 line it is negative, and if it has 2 lines it is positive.  If the test is negative you are recommended to test again in three months.  
     This past Thursday was my last day of the course.  Aaryn, Katie, and I received our certificate entitling us to counsel people in the townships and the clinics.  We will also get the opportunity to give the VCT. The course was very interesting, and I am glad that this opportunity was given to us.  We all feel a lot more comfortable talking to the patients and explaining the facts about the disease.  It was an insightful experience, and I hope to use all of the information from the course to help the community here in Jeffrey's Bay.