LAURIE IN AFRICA (and a column! hehe)

My wonderful blogmate Laurie (whose contributions will increase in the summer) finds her way into Marissa Mika's weekly Back from the Bush column for The Daily Cal.

My last adventure in the township of Ghamalakhe had involved a lot of cooking and cleaning in an attempt to prove my Zulu womanhood, with the visit to the local gospel choir, community center, Kentucky Fried Chicken and beach pushed to the back burner. This time around, I was with a friend from Berkeley who was studying in Durban, and I wanted to give her a taste of the "grassroots" approach to community development, not a taste of preparing pap (which is a cornmeal staple).

HIV/AIDS was the theme of our 48 hours together. We visited Love Life community centers where free condoms, fast internet, bright colors and basketball hoops lured young men and women away from the smoky shebeens (bars) and dark pool houses. We sat down at the local Spur, a kitschy steak house decorated in the worst elements of American Southwestern style to talk about President Thabo Mbeki, antiretroviral drugs, poverty and support from the United States.

(Laurie is the friend from Berkeley)

Aww!

(note: the DC's website is experiencing technical difficulties, so it's a crap shoot as to whether you'll be able to find her article)