A Day in Good Hope

It's usually a good thing, being positive. "Keep a positive attitude!" or "Stay positive!" are reassuring, uplifting bits of advice. Books have been published on the wonderful affects of being positive.
But sometimes, being positive is not a good thing.
Just look at the children who go to a child-care type school at the home of Mrs. Leshomo in a small town with a long name near Good Hope, which is near Lobatse, Botswana. They are all HIV positive.
You wouldn't know by looking at them, mostly exuberant with youthfulness and energy. One of the older ones does appear very skinny, one might think, but she can't have HIV - she's smiling. Unfortunately, despite the grins on the children's faces and the eagerness with which they tackle the oranges that we brought from Lobatse, they all have HIV.
Thinking of the brochure saved on my computer, which I'd brought to show the women who comprised part of the board committee of Cynthia's Child Care and Counselling Centre, I snapped dozens of photographs, wishing that the zoom on my camera wasn't broken; getting a close-up of a child's face is difficult when you literally have to stand ten inches away to get it! Luckily, though, the children were not camera-shy, and I was able to capture a few good images for my humble project.
The town is a little more than an hour south of Gaborone. The part of the village in which the centre is located has no electricity. But the family and children were upbeat. The woman leading the activities - lunch, an art project - is getting training as an early childhood educator. She just needs to finish up her preliminary education in Ghanzi, to where she goes during school vacations, and find a sponsor to pay school fees to go to a higher education in South Africa before coming back certified to work with kids.
After meeting the board and spending an hour or so on a driving tour around town with various stops at a new, very nice, public, boarding senior secondary school, we returned to the house for lunch and to take some photographs. The time flew by, and we left around 4:30.
After arriving at school, I rushed to prepare for a birthday party I'd been invited to, at Spurs, a popular restaurant. After a pleasant evening, I arrived back at MaP, exhausted, at 10:15. What a contrast to my Friday night, which I'd spent in bed, reading for five hours!
This morning I am at the library, with the librarian and her non-profit running friend. While the two of them are sorting out a visa for this year's AIDS conference in Mexico City, I have been editing photos and preparing the brochure.
As for how I'm doing, I'm staying positive - in the good kind of way.