The Homestretch

The holidays are fast approaching--although it doesn't quite feel like it here. Sure there are Christmas decorations up at the malls (went up right around Thanksgiving time, just like in the US!), and the rainy season is persisting and keeping a slight chill in the air (okay, maybe 55 degrees--but did you ever imagine Africa could be that cold when it's nearly summer here?!). Perhaps it's that my last few holiday season have been spent in the cold chill of Boston, NY, and DC, but I will never get used to a warm Christmas.

Still things are winding down at work, and by winding down, I mean the Ministry of Health, along with the rest of the Swazi government as a whole and their operations are grinding to a halt. And yet it feels like there's still a huge amount to get done before the end of the year. But somethings may just have to wait, as it would seem that by the end of next week, things will get very quiet in Mbabane--the residence of the government agency offices and those of many of the programs and partner NGOs that work with it--and stay that way until into the first week or two of January.

In the meantime, we are making the last push to create a video presentation to be shown at the final round of the big grant application process, which was started back in August. We have been hosting a videographer from the Netherlands, who has been working to capture footage of Swaziland landscape, culture, and clinics. This will be used to show the donor organization just how big an impact our grant could make on the country and its people living with HIV/AIDS, and in the longer term for people all over the world. This amazing video demonstrates the potential impact that the grant would make possible and keeps us pushing through this final leg of the process!