For the children.

Wednesdays seem like any other day in Mdantsane South Africas second largest township located in the impoverished Eastern Cape Province. Home to more than 600000 people its center buzzes throughout the day. Dozens of blue red and yellow taxis assemble to pick up passengers; farther on a colorful market teems with people buying and selling basic food items. Behind the market another crowd gathers outside a small old building. Here the NU2 Clinic serves hundreds of patients every day reaching out to a community riddled with domestic violence teen pregnancy and rising HIV/AIDS infection rates. But on Wednesdays this urban clinic is even more alive and bustling with the presence of pregnant women and new mothers who have been encouraged by nurses to come that day. Since the waiting room is too small to accommodate everyone the women congregate in the sun outside the clinic standing patiently with their babies on their backs until they are called by a nurse. All of the women worry about their childrens health but these days many also worry about their own health and about HIV. (excerpt)