Back but a bit wobbly

... I'm not well. Flew back from SA overnight on Sunday. Slept quite well thanks to borrowed Valium, spent Monday slightly dazed but essentially ok, then woke up Tuesday and BANG, stomach cramps, temperature, the works.

Getting over it I think (well I must be, as I've just had a 'medicinal' duty free Jamesons), but still not at all right.

But while I am thinking about it, and before I forget:

Highlights
- All our meetings with NGOs, members of Parliament, municipal government officials, academics, activists
- Realising the level of gender awareness in policy and practice in SA
- The hospitality of our South African colleagues
- Visiting Langa township and Robben Island
- Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- The food, the wine, the weather

Lowlights
- Realising just how utterly overwhelming the HIV/Aids pandemic is in South Africa. I thought I had an idea, but I didn't have a clue. It's unbelievable
- Realising how much of this is down to gender inequality and violence against women and girls, including rape and refusal to use condoms
- Seeing the poverty and the inequality that comes with the legacy of apartheid and 40% unemployment
- Two of our group getting mugged, the rest of us not being able to stop it (though the alarm was raised and they ran off without anything)

On balance, I was glad to get home, though it really was a fascinating experience.

joella