We went into Durban last night and realised the horror stories are true, Durban is not a safe place at night, we had only just parked the car when two guys came over and asked me if they could look after the car, when i said no one guy tryed to grab hold of me, luckily he was very drunk, so i managed to get away and catch up with the others. Apart from the people who spoil the atmosphere, Durban is an immense city and the harbour is unbelievable, in fact I am going back today to see it in the sun shine because it is beautiful.

My last entry was about some of the more hurtful experiences that i have had this past week, so in this one I am going to tell you about an experience which has lifted my spirit. There is a young man at the Hill AIDS Hospice called Sizwe, he has been there for a number of weeks now and seemed very bitter. Apparently when he first arrived Sizwe was very aggressive, he spat at staff and lashed out at them. He has refused his medication and would not accept help to leave his bed, it seemed that he had given up and wanted to die. On Tuesday I was sat on a sofa across from Sizwe's bed talking to one of the other patients, Sizwe woke up, looked over in our direction and began laughing uncontrollably. We all thought he was laughing because of what one of the other patients had said, but after 5 minuets or so when everyone had left the sofa and i was the only person remaining, Sizwe continued to laugh at me. It only took me a few seconds to realise he must have been laughing at my hair. Sizwe can not communicate verbally at the moment because of his illness, but the tone of his laughter said it all. "look at this white guy with dread locks, that is so funny!" I went over to his bed side and said "you are laughing at my locks arnt you?" Sizwe nodded and then laughed harder. I took my hair band off my head and shook my hair so it hung down over my face and i said to him "you are only jealous because my locks are much longer than yours, so you can laugh all you want." Sizwe just continued to laugh, but as he laughed he shook my hand in true Zulu fashion, we had become friends and seemed to have come to a compromise with out even discussing it.
On Wednesday I went over to talk to Sizwe and he seemed happy to see me again, so I asked him if he would like to try and get out of bed, he just shook his head and shrugged as if to say what is the point, this is it, i am stuck here till i die. I left him and went for a wheel chair, I sat in the chair and pushed my self over to him. Sizwe looked at me puzzled and all I said to him was "the point is that this chair is going to give you freedom" Sizwe nodded and then started to pull himself up right. I lifted him out of bed and helped him into the chair, Sizwe pushed himself around the ward with a smile on his face.

It is amazing how something so small as getting out of bed, something most of us take for granted can be the change around in somone elses life.