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STUDENT PROFILEOUT OF AFRICABy Sara RantanenAt Nelson Mandela MetropolitanUniversity, Racek was able topractice for and play in two gamesfor the soccer team. Her teammatesspoke Xhosa, which is a clicklanguage. The team tried for a weekto get her to learn their click namesbefore telling her their much easierto pronounce nicknames.IN EARLY 2007, ADRIANNE RACEK,now a second-year med student at theUND School of Medicine and HealthSciences, was given an amazingopportunity. As a junior at the Collegeof St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn.,Racek was working toward her biologymajor with a focus on premed whenshe entered a competitive interviewprocess for the chance to study abroadin eastern South Africa. She was amongthe 28, mostly pre–health careprofessionals and education majors,chosen.Starting in January 2007, Racekattended Nelson Mandela MetropolitanUniversity in Port Elizabeth, SouthAfrica. The majority of her studies werefocused on South African culture; theclasses ranged from history to literatureand even to South African jazz. OnMondays and Tuesdays, the studentswere given the opportunity to work atthe House of Resurrection Haven forpeople with AIDS. Racek offered hercare in the nursery, where she helpedfeed, change, prepare meals for, andplay with the children, most of whomwere orphaned or abandoned. Thechildren at the Haven were mostly HIVpositive or too young to test since testresults aren’t reliable until age two.They were receiving anti-retroviraltherapy and cared for by nurses andnuns. The Haven provided care for allages, but because of political,socioeconomic, psychological, andgender pressures, most adults were notmanaging their own HIV. “The adultsthat we saw would usually come in juston their last legs,” said Racek.As part of the NMMU’s curriculum,Racek and the other students took aCommunity Partnership and Developmentclass. “The class was wonderful becauseit made us more culturally aware and22 NORTH DAKOTA MEDICINE Holiday 2010