I have beena big laid back with the blog for the last week or so. A combination of no electricity, no internet connection, a bout of malaria and just being really busy.

A nice surprise came through our weekly postal delivery yesterday; a book entitled More than the Eyes Can See. (To order copy click here). It is the story of The Salvation Army's response to HIV/AIDS crisis. We were visited by a journalist Rhidian Brook and his family last year and had a great time with them. There is a chapter on Chikankata in the book, largely an account of our history and work related to HIV/AIDS through the eyes of Capt Angela Hachitapika.

"An extraordinary account of a nine-month journey made by the author and his family into some of the World’s HIV/AIDS epicentres. Sent by the Salvation Army to bear witness to the work they were doing in response to the pandemic, Rhidian Brook, his wife and two children, follow a trail of devastation through communities still shattered and being broken by this disease: truck stop sex workers in Kenya, victims of rape in Rwanda, child-headed families in Soweto, children of prostitutes in India, farmers who sold blood for money in China. It is a remarkable journey among the infected and the affected through a world that, despite seeming on the brink of collapse, is being held together, not by power, politics, guns and money; but by small acts of kindness performed by unsung people choosing to live in hope."

'"HIV/ Aids has enough experts," the Salvation Army told BBC journalist Brook as it sent him on this task. "We just want someone to go and see and find the stories." . . . and tell them he does, with a light, deft touch. Without a trace of mawkishness or sentimentality, Brook sets it out straight with heartbreaking simplicity.' – Independent

Have just started to read but I think its going to be a good one.