The True Tragedy of AIDSWhen I was in South Africa, I spent some time in a town called Crossroads, which essentially started out as a squatter camp for immigrants looking for I work near Cape Town. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, to make room for a supposed development project, the apartheid government attempted to relocate settlers. Whatever the reason, entire sections of the settlement were razed. Many people did not want to move and, as a result, their resistance was met with arson and both random and targeted violence; many of the victims were women and young children. The settlers' sense of security, although loosely tied to wood and corrugated iron, has been destroyed. In 1994, with the advent of democracy in South Africa, the remaining settlers began to rebuild their community from the rubble of apartheid, only to be faced with a powerful new enemy: AIDS. For me, Crossroads has become an example of the conflicted reality in South Africa today: destruction and resilience, hope and ongoing struggle. Crossroads is now home to Beautiful Gate, a home for dozens of children with HIV/AIDS whose parents are unable to care for them or have already died. Converted from what was once a place for troubled youth, Beautiful Gate is surrounded by an imposing fence; I thought it was unusual to have a place around for sick kids. There are metal bars on the windows, which I initially thought were there to protect children from violence caused by the stigma surrounding AIDS. I was wrong. In fact, the bars are there because people tried to steal food... because in Crossroads only half the people can find work and they're desperate to support themselves. Some of us managed to visit Beautiful Gate a couple of times, and I remember talking to Francis Herbert, the social worker there. I asked her why she continued to work there. How could she continue to work when virtually no one listened to her, when the government was faced with so many problems that it couldn't pay attention, when she knew that for every child who stays at Beautiful Gate, dozens, nay thousands, more have no children ? place to go. Why? Francis looked at me with a puzzled expression. He does what he does because it has to be done. Now I understand how obvious that answer was. And now I realize that Francis and others working under similar conditions will continue to hit a wall unless people like me use our knowledge of the severity of AIDS to mobilize international support..