Fighting AIDS

In Africa, the living no longer bothered to bury the dead. Once the AIDS virus had undergone a mutation which enabled it to survive in the salivary glands of a mosquito for up to six hours, the death rate had soared exponentially. Hard on the heels of the virus followed other diseases like cholera and typhoid fever. Governments collapsed, and social order ceased to exist. The distance a mosquito could fly in six hours became a paramount factor for survival. Deep in the African wilderness one could keep intruders at bay. For a while. Sam Jenkins settled in Skukuza, which used to be the main tourist camp in the Kruger National Park. Skukuza was relatively easy to isolate, and it had the basic infrastructure like a water purification plant, sewerage treatment facility etc. It was the ideal location to set up a viable community with a good chance to survive and even thrive. Sam was well aware of the fact that, in order to survive in the long term, the community had to become self-sufficient. This insight was initially not shared by the likes of Kurt Waldeck, who had set himself up as the undisputed ruler of the town of Nelspruit. Nelspruit used to be the capital city of the province, with a large fuel storage depot and rich pickings for Waldeck and his men. Waldeck and his men survived in relative luxury by scavenging on the remains of civilization. In time it dawned on him that the good life was not going to last for ever….