Are you registered organ donor?

If there is one thing South Africa does know how to do, it is how to produce actuality news programmes.

I just watched Special Assignment about kidney failure and the misery this results in for most sufferers due to lack of donors in South Africa.

A major cause of this are traditional beliefs. For my international readers, South Africa is an astonishing mix of first and third worlds. While some live Western life styles with pretty much everything you get in places like London, New York, etc, the majority live in poverty in rural areas or townships.

Among the poor, superstition and traditional beliefs hold sway. And these are against organ donation. Some believe that the body is needed for resurrection (a version of christian belief) and organ donation damages this future. Some believe that the organs contain elements of your ancestors and this results in mixing of ancestors.

All of which means South Africa is dreadfully short of donors.

I've always wanted my organs to be donated if something happened to me and this prompted me to formalise things.

It took 2 minutes to fill in the form on the South African organ donation site and they are now sending me a pack containing information and stickers to affix to my drivers licence, etc.

The other day I read the blog of someone who is donating their kidney to a friend . What unbelievable guts to choose to give up one of your kidneys for the rest of your life!

The South African Organ Donor Foundation site: http://www.odf.org.za