Petauke, Zamiba - HIV Testing

I arrived in Petauke mid afternoon, setup the tent and listened to it rain all night.
I had been planning on leaving the next day but I decided to camp another night. It was raining and the bike is often a miserable place in the rain. Also it was the 31st, 8 months since I left London, and I like to have the 31st off.

I was having a mid afternoon nap when I was woken by the sound of drums and singing.
Its not uncommon to hear this so I went back to sleep but when I woke again half
an hour later it was still going on so I thought I better go and check it out.

So I went for a beer not far from where there were children singing ouside a tent.

While sitting there a young guy dressed in a suit came and got 3 chairs and went and sat in the middle of am empty grass field with 2 others. I though that this was a little odd so I looked over and one of them was upset and he was being consoled by the two others.

Then I noticed a car parked in the parking lot. A woman in her 50's was crying, shaking and ocassionally striking the man in the drivers seat next to her.

The main street of Petauke

I finished my beer and went over to a white tent which was in front of a petrol station to see the children and to find out what was going on.

 The petrol station the following day

There were 12 of children all under 10 years old outside the tent, singing and dancing in a cricle. I asked a man what was going on he said they are celebrating, they dont have HIV.

The tent was an HIV testing centre setup by the WHO.

There was a line of around 12 men lined up waiting to go inside.
I looked at the men in the line, they looked at me and I took my place in the queue.

I was given a number and filled out a form with my name and address and then told to wait outside. When my number was called I went into the tent and was greeted by a Doctor.

He pricked my thumb with a blue tack and then pressed it onto a piece of paper. I was then told to wait outside again and my number would be called in around 10 minutes.

I hadn't really thought about what was going on until I stood outside and waited with the others. I looked at the faces of the men in line and I could see some were visiably thin, some were relaxed while others had a look of desperation. 
I looked at the children with their huge smiles and watched them dance and sing.

My number was called, I went back in and he gave me my results. I talked with the doctor, I said to him that what he does is incredibly important and to keep up the good work.

I left the tent walked across the road, got a beer and sat down. I needed to sit down.
 
From the other side of the road I could see that the whole street was watching the tent.
I could see the 3 guys sitting in the grass field, the man and woman sitting in the car, the men walking away from the tent and the children singing and dancing.

In a small town in rural Zambia life and death was being dished out inside a tent that was setup outside a petrol station. Along with it came two extremes of humanity. Total elation, the children that had been told that they were going to live and total devisation, the men & women that were being told that they were going to die.

Life in Africa is tough for a lot of people but that afternoon I got to see exactly how brutal it can be.