Ayla's Aboriginal Youth Internship with CAP AIDS Uganda: 2012

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

HIV/AIDS – Similarities and Differences between Uganda and First Nations Communities

Differences:

1. In Uganda sharing needles is not too big of a concern when it comes to HIV transmission. It seems there isn’t a whole lot of IV drug use happening here. Everyone I’ve encountered has said this is almost a non issue here. In the First Nations communities, particularly urban First Nations populations it is estimated that IV drug use accounts for a high percentage of new HIV transmissions.

2. Mother to child transmission of HIV during pregnancy, birth, and breast feeding is still a huge problem. There hasn’t been a baby born HIV positive in British Columbia since 1989, while it’s an everyday thing here in Uganda.

3. People living with HIV or AIDS in Uganda are seen as vulnerable and in need of assistance to overcome their situation. In First Nations communities and Canada in general there is a view of “they did this to themselves and should deal with it themselves”.

Similarities:

1. There is still a lot of myths in First Nations and rural Ugandan communities about how exactly HIV is transmitted. Some people are still afraid that you can catch it doing daily activities such as sharing utensils or a cigarette or playing sports or swimming with someone who is HIV positive. This of course is untrue.

So HIV 101:

Bodily Fluid that has HIV+ Direct Opening into the Body + Activity = Possible Transmission of HIV

· Only four bodily fluids can transmit HIV: blood, semen/precum, vaginal fluids, and breast milk

· Only direct opening into the body with receptor sites: cervix, puncture, pee hole on penis, and anus

· Activities: unprotected oral, anal, or vaginal sex, blood to blood (such as needle sharing or transfusion), and mother to child during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding.

· HIV can only survive for 7 seconds in open air before the virus dies.

· Waste fluids do NOT transmit HIV. You cannot get HIV from salvia, mucus, or pee. If someone with HIV coughs or sneezes on you, YOU ARE NOT AT RISK. Also mosquitoes cannot transmit HIV.

2. Because of these myths there is still stigma in both First Nations and rural Ugandan communities. I have to say though that Uganda has come a long way in battling stigma. The government believes 80% of the population is educated about HIV and does not stigmatize those with HIV. I don’t know how true this is from my every day conversations with Ugandans, but that’s the official word on the streets.

3. Lack of adherence to ARV (anti-retro viral) regimes. ARVs are medicine that can treat HIV but not cure it. In order for these to be the most effective there needs to be 90% adherence rate. In Uganda the challenge to adherence is access to ARVs, since there are frequent shortages and people cannot always afford them. In the First Nations community the biggest challenge is people not being in stable enough position to commit to taking ARVs every day. In both countries there is a lack of buy-in about ARVs effectiveness and benefits. ARVs have many side-effects and sometimes people just don’t see the point, in both Uganda and First Nation communities.

4. There is great work going on in both countries about all aspects of HIV/AIDS. In Uganda there a lots of NGO’s and government organizations working to assist those affected by HIV/AIDS. There are lots of First Nations organizations working to improve the HIV/AIDS crisis.

a. Examples of Uganda Organization:

i. TASO

ii. CAP AIDS

iii. AIDS Information Centers

iv. Baiylor Uganda

v. ACET (AIDS Care, Education & Training)

vi. Action Aid Uganda

b. Examples of First Nations Organizations:

i. Red Road HIV/AIDS Network

ii. Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network

iii. Youth Co

iv. Healing Our Spirit

v. Chee Mamuk

Monday, April 16, 2012

Collecting Stories - Aboke

On our final day in the community I had the privillage to travel around Aboke and collect stories. It was another very long day but made me all the more richer with understanding. These learning opportunites are the reason I came to Uganda, and I grateful I had this opportunity. These are only snipets of the stories. I will be composing full stories and sending them to the Canada office for posting on the CAP AIDS website, in the storie from Africa section.

http://www.capaids.org/stories_from_africa.html

The first person's home I visited and interviewed was Jennifer Dengo. She is the treasurer of AHWA and part of the caregivers group. It was an honor to spend time with this generous women. With great pride she showed me her pigs, chickens, bricks and home. She shared with me how difficult life was before she joined AHWA and before they became partners with CAP AIDS. She introduced me to Doris and Bosco the two orphans she's taken in and helped to have better lives. Their story is so intertwined with hers that it would be impossible to tell one without the others. When these two speak about Jennifer it is impossible not to hear the affection in their voices. I was honored to spend this time with her and surprised when at the end of our visit she presented me with a chicken. (Naomi later explained that the biggest thing you can do for a visitor in the north is to give them a big rooster)

The second stop was the tailoring shop at the AHWA office. I was able to interview 4 of the vocational beneficiaries. These four young women are all orphans and part of the sustainable livelihoods for orphans and caregivers project. I spoke to them about their hopes for the future and their experience in school. They also shared about the challenges of coming home after graduating and loosing hope that things would be different, when the tools were delayed for one year. They also shared with me about how life was before they were selected to be a part of the project and how things have changed. Their names are Nancy Atim, Nancy Akello, Anyes Apili, and Eunice Acheng.

The next person I interviewed was Milly Ongwen. She is the mobilizer of AHWA and also a part of the caregivers group. She's a spirited old lady and made me laugh alot. She goes to vist and counsel PLWAs and looks after many orphans. She shared her experience with AHWA and CAP AIDS. She spoke with pride about the training and how successful the income generating activites have been. She was particularly proud of the fact that she now has a bank account. This a picture of her with her bank book.

I then interviewed Helen Auma and Sophia Ojok. These women are part of the caregivers group and have become business partners in their piggery business. I've written a story about them. You can check it out on the Stories from Africa page of the CAP AIDS website. The link is below their photo.

http://www.capaids.org/stories_from_africa.html

After these women I went to visit Margaret Okello. She is a member of AHWA and the caregivers group. When I arrived I was surprised to see other women there. Turns out they were all part of Margaret's story.

Let's start with Margaret. First of all let me say one thing: INSPIRING! She speaks with such passion about her work with HIV positive and people living with AIDs. Margaret spoke about her training and the confidence it has given her. She says she now has confidence speaking to the community. She makes public speeches about being HIV positive and living a good life. She is a role model to many people in the community. Through her openness and devotion to helping others she has convinced many people to go for testing. The ones that test postive she has helped and supported to come together as a group. The group now has a local savings fund. This fund is then turned into small loans for group members to start income generating activies. Also in times of need, such a death, it helps the group out. All this from a bicycle (part of the bicyle project) and being part of the sustainable livelihoods project. This is Margaret with her chickens and her bike.

Now on to the women in the picuture. The two in the front were co-wives (now they're widows) who Margaret visited and counselled. They say that she convinced them to go for testing and as a result has improved their lives so much. Before they would fall ill and be sick for a very long time. Now they go to the clinic for medication. The young one of the far right is the daughter and a vocational beneficiary. She studied tailoring and was selected a result of Maragret's outreach work. The older women is a part of the local group and was recently inspired by Maragret to be tested. Her results were postive. She says she's not so worried because Margaret and her daughter have been a great help to her. So these women, all who've been helped by Margaret were there to tell their stories and help me learn more about Margaret's.

The next stop was Bosco Kennedy's place. He's a unique story because he's male. AHWA is obviously a women's association and CAP AIDS focuses mostly on helping females (research finds they are the ones looking after their siblings, orphans, and others in need). But Bosco is also a caregiver. He "inherrited" this role from his mother. She was a member of AHWA and Bosco took her place. His whole story can be found on the CAP AIDS website, on the Stories from Africa page. These are some pictures of Bosco with the results of his income generating activities. Also at the end of our visit Bosco presented me with a chicken. Although travelling with two chickens in the back of the car was interesting I'm very grateful for Jennifer's and Bosco's generosity.

The next stop was to talk to the builiding and concrete vocational students. They were inspiring in their perseverance. These young men spoke of now having hope for their future and getting jobs in the year wait for their equipment. They spoke of helping their siblings when they start working fulltime and how they were already contributing small things through their casual work in the year before the equipment came.

Next stop was to speak to two of the capentry and joinery students. They also spoke about their experience before the project, their experience at school, their year waiting for the tools to arrive, and what they hope for now. Both young men managed to find work with other carpenters and worked hard to help their families.

The final stop of the day was another tailoring group. These girls were very shy but with help from Simon shared their stories. Their machines were being assembled and they were very excited to get their business started. These girls were excited to have a future that wasn't going to be as hard as their past. Many of them talked about being glad to not have to work in the fields anymore. It was nice to end the day with these young women who were so happy to be starting their new lives.

This is the man who put together all the tailoring students machines. He is also Milly's husband and quite a character. He gave me some awesome advice on marriage. :-)

So after a long crazy day of interviews and traveling all over the community I've collected many inspiring and beautiful stoires. Also I am now the proud owner of two chickens. Which I gave names so I can't eat. I've told the office staff to feel free to eat them once I leave. Right now they live behind the office and I feed them every morning.

Northern Uganda (Part 3)

By far one of my favorite days in the north was they day we went to the future site of the Home of Hope. The Home of Hope will be a youth center, vocational training facility, and overall support center to help youth to resist, survive, and overcome HIV/AIDS. As I've talked about in previous posts the north of Uganda is particularly hard hit by HIV/AIDS in large part due to the armed conflict that waged there for many years. We were on site to supervise the fencing and make sure that the land was marked correctly. But within a 10 minutes of being there some local children came along to see what was going on. They were pretty curious about the Muzungo (This word means white person. I don't take offense because I am really pale and pretty much no one here has ever heard of First Nations people). It all started with these little boys. They are the grandchildren of the next door neighbour of the soon to be Home of Hope.

I snapped a few photos of them and showed them on my camera. They loved this and loved the video feature even more.

Soon there were a ton of curious childeren. I started to talk to them and exchange some words in Heiltsuk and Acholi. It stared with hello, good bye, thank you. Then we moved on to body parts. We sang head and shoulders in English, Heiltuks and Acholi. I sang for them in my language and they sang for me.

Eventually we relocated under the mango tree. We ended up playing some games. I tried to teach them duck, duck, goose. We played an altered version of it. They then showed me some of their dancing games. Which were very cool. I have to say it was nice to be around children again. At home I work as the Child & Youth Program Coordinator for the Health Center, and I had been missing that playful spirit of being around a group of kids

Some how the afternoon ended up turning into a sort of impromtu proformance. It all started with Naomi explaining who we were, what we were there to do and about the Home of Hope. She asked them what they would like from such a center. They responded that they wanted a place they could come together to do drama, sing, play, and just be together and love one another. Seem that the Home of Hope will be very well used by the local children and youth. Here are some pictures of them singing and dancing.

This day was by far one of my favorites so far. I really enjoyed getting to know these young ones and I'm grateful that I had the time to spend with them. Here are some pictures of the site of the Home of Hope and the fencing, which was the official reason for our visit.