Gangs, Drugs and Aids

Last week I 'interned' at E-news, the newsbroadcast of Etv. It was a quite an experience. In four days I witnessed the reporting on a gang related triple murder in Belhar, the problems of providing ARVs to children with HIV and a mother who used the drug TIK all throughout her pregnancy; in a nutshell a the major problems South-Africa is dealing with. The issues journalists encounter here are much more burning then in Holland. Don't get me wrong. I know the Netherlands is no problem free paradise, but at least 90% of the population has access to good health care, decent education and a fine house. Furthermore, people in Holland don't have to walk the streets while being afraid of getting mugged (or worse).
Besides from the news Etv was working on documentaries about Nelson Mandela, that will be broadcasted after he dies. The crew working on it really won my respect. The first 70 years of Mandela's life there's hardly anything to work with, only a few pictures and three minutes of film at the most. Try to turn that in a documentary that (all episodes together) has to last more then a couple of hours. One thing really stood out for me. In the last couple of years the recording of Mandela's Rivonia trial was re-discovered. It was on a tape they couldn't play in SA anymore, therefore they had to send it to England to recover the sound. Turns out on it you can hear Mandela giving his speech in which he justifies his actions for the ANC. "In my life I have fought against white domination and black domination...". That speech, remember it? After it he was shipped of to Robben Island. The images of his release never seize to give me goose bumps.

(Upper photo: redactie E-news. Middle: Tik mother is holding drug pipe in one hand and baby in other hand. Under: Cameraman puts up camera during shoot)