Thembi's AIDS Diary

Thembi Ngubane recording her audio diary in Khayelitsha township, outside Cape Town. (Melikhaya Mpumelo)
This is what I love about radio. Here's a piece from NPR that'll cause you to drop everything and just listen:

Thembi Ngubane lives in one of South Africa's largest townships, a sprawling sea of houses and shacks made of wood planks, tar paper and sheets of tin.

She has a boyfriend and a close relationship with her mother and father. She is also living with AIDS.

Ngubane was 19 when she first met radio producer Joe Richman in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. She was among a group of South African teenagers he interviewed about AIDS in 2004. He gave her a tape recorder, and for a year, she recorded an intimate audio diary that brings listeners into her home, among her family, to witness her daily struggles and triumphs.