To commemorate World AIDS Day 2012, The Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe sent a text message to our subscribers, asking them to share their positive prevention messages.

Our three winning responses:

• Sexy legs, lovely smile. Stop. Stirring in loins. Stop. Bed beckoning. Stop to ponder: Do we have rubbers? Stop.
• Put a helmet on your soldier and you won’t die young!
• Open your eyes before AIDS closes them! Wear a condom – every time.

And all 563 responses in a word cloud:

• Be willing to interrupt your life: the stuff that wings in at an angle is often expanding, don’t shut it out
• Laugh: it helps you keep perspective, and lightens the load
• Be grateful for small things: don’t look gifts of small hoppers in the mouth
• Reach out and ask for advice and help: we’re made more by others
• Not always, but very often, things will be all right in the morning: have faith
• Sometimes the decision won’t be in your hands: the morning of Birdy’s release he became very agitated, he was ready, we accepted
• Make friends with mystery: clear proof sometimes can’t be found, and that’s ok
• When you think you can’t just try to anyway: you’d be amazed what you can accomplish when you’re motivated strongly enough
• Don’t expect to get it right the first time: be flexible enough to learn from your mistakes, and brave enough to try again
• Share the story: you never know what you’ll inspire in others
• Appreciate teamwork: respect each others’ strengths and roles, and you can do much more together than you could separately
• Never underestimate the power of gentle: coupled with focus and determination, it can lift you to the skies

Songs to feed, love, nurture and grow a stranded baby Little Swift to:

1)    Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
2)    People Help the People – Birdy
3)    Fire and Rain – Birdy
4)    You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
5)    Taylor  – Jack Johnson
6)    Roxie – Chicago
7)    Mame – Robert Preston
8)    Use Somebody – Kings of Leon
9)    Weather With You – Crowded House
10)  Anything could happen

I don’t know who PSI tests their advertisements with, but they really need to work on their market research. Is it just me? Or does “get a summer snip and feel the breeze” not quite do it for promoting male circumcision? Especially on the heels of past prevention campaigns, and the fact that male circumcision is not the one-stop-shop for HIV prevention that marketing might want to make it seem.

I’ve just come across some shocking statistics on Zimbabwe’s road traffic safety – or lack thereof. According to Transport, Communications and Infrastructure Development Minister Nicholas Goche:

In Zimbabwe there are 28 deaths per every 10 000 registered vehicles and there is a traffic collision every 15 minutes with an average of 45 people getting injured per day while on average five people are killed per day.

That’s right. An average of five people are killed per day on Zimbabwe’s roads. If 5 people per day were dying in political violence, there would be an outcry. SADC would be sending negotiators, the media would be covering events, and the responsible parties would be facing international censure.

But when it’s all of us, on our own roads, driving badly, it’s acceptable?

According to NewsDay, the High Court in Zimbabwe on Wednesday set aside Statutory Instrument 154/2010. This was the regulation that banned left-hand drive vehicles, required motorists to carry red reflective triangles and fire extinguishers, and prohibited driving of a car with a malfunctioning window winding mechanism (amongst other things).

So. How long until the Zimbabwe Republic Police stop asking motorists at their ATMS – oh, sorry, I mean road blocks – to show them a (serviced, certified, Zimbabwean, functioning) fire extinguisher or pay a bribe?