THANDEKA

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Thandeka, a film portrait by Ciska de Hartogh in which she shows the touching story of Thandeka, a single AIDS infected mother of three children who lives in appallingly poor conditions, but nonetheless finds her strength in her Christian believe. Thandeka has dedicated her live to creating awareness in her community about the dangers of living with HIV/AIDS and actively believes that abstinence from sex before marriage is the only way to stop the further spread of the virus.

 

Ciska and Thandeka meet in her ramshackle slum dwelling in Khayelitsha Overview Highs, a slum township near Cape Town, South Africa, were Thandeka's entrusts Ciska that her children are fortunately HIV negative thanks to the project of the Red Cross Children's Hospital Ciska has helped getting started back in 1995. In the long interview Ciska deliberately has left room for Thandeka to take her time conveying her living conditions, thus establishing an intimate portrait of this young, unfortunate and yet courageous woman.