This was the highlight of the Scrutinize road show event held in Mandeni's Sundumbili Plaza on Saturday 14th November. Mandeni, a small municipality 96km north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. The main industries involve sugar-cane farming and factories like the Sappi paper mill.  That afternoon the grey clouds which threatened to cut the event short, never let up until after the event, and neither did the massive crowd. Perfectly situated, in the middle of the plaza, right near the busy taxi rank, the large screen television, sound equipment and stage being set up, began to attract the audience. Even before the celebrities arrived, there were at least 500 people waiting, watching and wondering what was to happen on that stage a little later. As the excitement of the event grew so too did the audience with approximately 2000 participants gathered around the stage.

The Scrutinize phenomenon hit the town of Mandeni with full force. The event's MC for the day was CC Ravele, best known as a former YoTV presenter on SABC 1. CC's interaction with the audience resulted in some very animated dance moves being performed on stage by the volunteers from the audience. The prize for performing in front of hundreds? – a trendy Scrutinize shirt with the logo, "Flip HIV to HIVictory" on the back. Yet, this was not all, from the participatory "risk game" which called for the crowd to identify high risk and low risk behaviour with relation to HIV, to the plethora of celebrities that graced the stage to engage with the audience, the event was a huge success. One onlooker told us, "It's about time something like this was brought to this town, there are hundreds of people still in denial dying of HIV right here on the farms". This was a sad fact, since the iLembe district has the second highest HIV prevalence among antenatal clients tested in South Africa (Health Systems Trust, District Health Barometer 2007/2008). Yet, despite the hard facts, it was encouraging to see the long queue outside the New Start tents, of people going for Voluntary Counselling and Testing.

Although the event yielded many opportunities for learning more about the social drivers of the HIV endemic such as, Multiple Concurrent Partnerships, Transactional Sex and Sexual Networks, it was by no means a lecturing activity. The celebrities who hosted the educational aspect of the event were highly entertaining, and how could they be anything less, with the likes of comedian Joey Rasdien and television star Welile Tembe the programme was set for success. "Is it high risk or low risk to have a sugar daddy?" asks Joey to the participants, "High Risk", comes the reply from the crowd, and then he asks the volunteers on stage, "Why?" What followed were various responses, most understanding the implications of transactional sex (as one of the Scrutinize themes), and for those who didn't, they soon found out with on-stage debate being roused. But that was not all, another great favourite on the list of performers was local celebrity Bhekumuzi Luthuli who wowed the crowds with his traditional music and energetic dancers.

What does it take to put together an event of this magnitude? JHHESA partners, DramAidE in conjunction with Footballers for Life were tasked to mobilize at community level for this event. Siphetho Mkhize (team leader for the Scrutinize Mandeni road show) from DramAidE was interviewed on what it takes to execute this task, "team work with the volunteers from the district and implementation of each activity was crucial". Indeed the mobilizing paid off, evidence of which was apparent in the presence of local government support at the event. According to Mkhize "identifying key stakeholders (local government) and secondary stakeholders (CBO's and FBO's and NGO's) as well as training of stakeholders in capacity building" were all part of the organization of the event.

So the event was great fun, but did the audience take anything home with them?

The answer is, how could they not? If the impression was right about denial being one of the drivers of HIV in that district, then they at least got acknowledgement from the people they respect - like the celebrities they praise, that HIV exists. Not only that, but the social drivers such as unfaithfulness and transactional sex were brought to the fore in the messaging, entertainment and interaction with the audience.

Mandeni, you have officially been Scrutinized! Keep up the work of turning H.I.V. to H.I.Victory!