frustrated...

I have always wondered why Africa along with poverty, famine, civil war, dictatorship was the front runner in the AIDS epidemic too. Want to know the popular belief? I don’t think there is one. Apart from the philanthropist and charity organizations, I don’t think any of us think about Africa and its problems. It is a forgotten continent and most of us don’t want to think about their problems least of all deal with them. I just finished reading “The invisible cure” by Helen Epstein. I am not sure if experts of Africa would be impressed but I liked the book. It was written by someone who was out on the streets and villages of Africa and not by someone who spends 10 hours a day studying blood samples and plants in a clean room. Even I could tell the difference after reading blogs and articles online.

There are many things I learned about Africa and AIDS from this book.

I started writing this blog wanting to spit out the facts I read in this book, but my thoughts are wandering and I realize I cannot gather my thoughts and write about them! How many times in your life do you read a book and feel you have to do something about it? Well, I do many times but what have I done so far. Nothing. Apart from displaying my amateurish writing skills online, nothing! Am I frustrated? Yes, I am. Would I think about it next week? Probably not. I am not sure how others cope with this feeling. Should I rephrase? So I read a book, feel bad about the plight of others, think I should do something for them, and then just keep thinking. Move on to my next book and it is over. Am I just reading all these books to feel good about the facts that I can recall from them? Shame on me! I would rather not know about them than know about them and do nothing. This is pretty much free thought. I have written the last few times with absolutely no stops and pause and see what it produced? Frustration! Frustration that I don’t tell out, frustration I am ashamed of.

But there are people who are doing something about it - http://t8web.lanl.gov/people/rajan/AIDS-india/.

What am I going to do? I don’t know…If you have comments or suggestions please feel free.