ANGEL IDA - day six

wow. ok. i am blown away. i met ida today and as i said yesterday she is a field coordinator for the stephen lewis foundation. ok wow. where to begin.
when i first met ida she breezed into the room beaming. beautiful smile, radiant. we sat down to talk- i was so grateful that she was able to fly in so that we could spend time together. we sat down over a cup of roiboos tea and she began to speak to me. she told me about her millennium year, that was the year she buried her brother and her husband. they both died from HIV/Aids.
after which, she had to fight to stay in her home because in many parts of the world women are still not entitled to OWN LAND! she was left with two children, no money and with no options. so. she decided to take matters into her own hands. ida started working with 'street youth' - i asked her what she meant by that. she explained, many of the youth are orphans, have been in violent conflicts or have been displayed by war. WAR. she told me that when she began to reach out to the community that on her first day that she began HIV testing 13 out of 15 of the women she tested were HIV POSITIVE! forgive my french WTF! really WHAT THE @#c*! i know that is not lady like but really. i don't have another word for this. we really need a new word for women like this. super human? she started mobilizing her community at a grass roots level and since then she has created dozens of grassroots support groups in zambia that work with thousands of women.
i asked ida - how? how did you move from grief into action? she said "it's not about me."
and that's the bottom line isn't it? she told me about a 70 grandmother who buried all 13 of her children - all died from Aids...come on now! all of her children.and she is left to care for her grandchildren. ida told when she hears a story like that how can she be silent?
we cried and laughed. i felt like i had met another long lost sister...aissatou being the first.
we are coming together now. ida says "together we can make a change" i believe her.

there is so much more to tell...this rabbit hole goes so deep. these situations are not by accident but by design. and worse still apathy.

i know we can wake up, get involved and create a change together.

but as aissatou's grandmother's says, "there is too much meat to fit into this pan". but as you all know. i am on a mission.
tomorrow, we go to the consulate to get my passport back - i will be needing it.
tomorrow, god willing i fly into france - i will spend some of my time there telling you more about the people i met here.

friends. tonight i don't think i will sleep again.
love you
ngozi