Khayelitsha Township on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa

The Group Areas Act, passed in the 1950s, prohibited blacks from living in South African cities. Hundreds of thousands defied the ban and moved to urban areas in search of work, putting up shacks made of tin, wood and cardboard. Apartheid is gone, but its legacy -and the shacks- remain. In fact, the townships are growing: Khayelitsha is home to between 500,000 and 1 million people. HIV/AIDS is a fact of life in Khayelitsha. Although there are no official figures, estimates based on HIV/AIDS tests already conducted indicate that approximately 40,000 people have HIV/AIDS in various stages. Of these, health workers believe only around 7,000 are aware of their health condition. Additionally, reliable estimates suggest there are as many as 14,000 orphans in Khayelitsha, the majority the result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Thus, HIV/AIDS awareness education and HIV testing could have a major impact on this community.