During 2003 I volunteered to work with HIV/AIDS children in So. Africa for a year, after seeing the devastation that AIDS was taking on the people,& leaving so many children orphaned, & caring for their siblings. I worked with an organsation called, "Beautiful Gate," under the direction of, "Youth With a Mission," a Christian/humanitarian organization. It was very rewarding ,& I shall never forget the time I spent there. A few days before I was to return to America, Mr. Nelson Mandela came to visit our children on Dec. 1st International AIDS Day. What a soft spoken, compassionate, & humble man. While holding a small child on his lap, he said, "Africa has many problems & poverty is one of them." He thanked the director for having our compound right in the middle of a township. Later they told us to line up as volunteers & staff for pictures to be taken by the So. African newspaper. As Mr. Mandela approched me he reached out his hand to me, & shook my hand. I was so honered all I could say was, "God Bless you." Later I ran around saying," he shook my hand, I'll never wash my hand again" That was the icing on the cake for my stay in So. Africa.To have seen, met,& heard a man that has sacrificed so much for his people, & country. On Dec. 3, 2003 I returned to America.
