When we first met Anatolia she said that all she wanted was the freedom to live out the rest of her days in peace, raise her children and her animals in order to secure a bright future for her whole family. She has done just that and now will have enough money to pay for her children’s education. Like so many mothers, Anatolia wants the best for her children and for them to want for nothing. Anatolia is taking action to break the cycle of poverty and showing her children (and grandchildren) what empowerment looks and feels like.

In my previous blog, Project GRACE: Micro-enterprising to Achieve Self Reliance in Uganda, I shared a video and details about how our program is providing families like Anatolia’s with the tools to create, manage and profit from their own business. For thousands of these families the physical effects of HIV/AIDS and/or the stigma associated with it prevents the adults from being able to support their families.

Through Just Like My Child Foundation’s work with Bishop Asili Hospital, mothers and fathers are provided with the necessary treatment, and Project GRACE empowers them to become self-reliant: through micro-enterprise. Through a loan of poultry of livestock along with training, these impoverished families can create a self-sustaining business that gives them hope and pride.

Project GRACE is giving HIV families a second chance and a step up not a hand out. It brings me great joy to share Anatolia’s heartwarming success story that your funds to Project GRACE have made possible.

Thank you to those of you who continue to support our efforts with your donations.

$300 provides an entire family of 6 with a complete sustainable business. Invest TODAY in Just Like My Child and help us empower communities to achieve self-sustenance and break the cycle of poverty.

Is this possible? Could a community, a generation or a gender honestly believe that women who contract HIV or are raped brought it upon themselves? I am at a loss on how best to report on this subject so let’s start with the facts.

21-year old Regina Joseph was beaten by a group of men on the street of Tanzania’s Mkinga District and forced to remove her clothes because it was their way of “punishing her for allegedly dressing in an alluring way with the intention of passing on the HIV virus.” (They had no knowledge of her HIV status).
Community health workers in Mkinga are trying to change the methods the male elders of their community are using to fight HIV. The elders believe the best way to reduce the spread of HIV is to go back to their ancient cultural values and they are encouraging their communities to punish “inappropriately” dressed women. They go on to say that men would not stray from their wives if women dressed more plainly which in turn would reduce the cases of new HIV infections.

Strong moral values are an essential part of a healthy community, however, all data suggests that how a woman dresses has nothing to do with the spread of HIV. Men must be brought into the dialogue to understand and accept their role in perpetuating this deadly disease In the U.S. we would not tolerate this type of punishment nor would we excuse a gender-based hate crime of this nature. Could you imagine your daughter, niece or sister being accosted on the street the way Regina was? It is a travesty that this example has to demonstrate the enormous lack of women’s rights in Africa. The stigmas associated with AIDS are still tremendous, and many women in parts of Africa are treated like outcasts when they are only “believed” to have HIV. When they actually do contract the disease they lose their jobs and their ability to support their families.

Education is the key to reducing HIV infection and cases of discrimination against women. If you are like me and stories like Regina’s leave you feeling as though you must make a difference, you can support Just Like My Child’s successful program to teach men and women in rural communities about human, children’s and women’s rights through our life-empowering program, Project Justice. We need your help. Please make a difference by visiting: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=26195&Itemid=108

Click here to read the full article about Regina Joseph.

African women in their early 20s represent the largest group of the adult population infected with HIV. One of the causes is that their sexual partners refuse to wear condoms. This refusal is often a death sentence for the female partner. So how can infections be reduced among these women? Some might say that education is the key. The education exists, but often the women lack the power to influence their partner’s choices. African women have not had much control over the prevention of HIV, but now there is hope.

South African scientists released exciting results of a clinical trial that a new vaginal gel containing antiretroviral drugs offers women a strong level of protection and a greater degree of control against HIV infection.

Conducted in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province by Prof Salim Abdool Karim and his wife Quarraisha, the clinical trial results showed that using the gel reduced the risk of HIV infection by 39 per cent overall among women, but for those who used it most consistently the protection rate was 54 per cent. It is forecasted that over the next 20 years, the gel could prevent as many as 1.3 million new infections and 800,000 deaths in South Africa.

The scientists are working to conduct the third and final stage of the trial, which is estimated to take “a number of years” to complete.

The effectiveness of this protective gel is very encouraging news for the HIV epidemic in South African and for the opportunity for women to have more control over preventing the disease.

The reality of the situation is that although the study was done on a large portion of rural African women, the challenge throughout much of Africa, is that often there is a long delay between breakthroughs like this and its distribution throughout the rural communities where it is needed most.

As I’ve often said, the devil is in the details in Africa. We’ve had anti-retro-viral drugs to combat AIDS for years now, yet the education, investment, and distribution of the drugs is an intense process. It requires deep commitment on the part of the communities on the ground and the aid organizations which finance and distribute them. We need to commit ourselves to making these types of breakthroughs accessible not just in the urban areas. Yes, education is important, but often access for all is the key to the exciting results that are possible.

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, there is a stigma in Uganda surrounding families with HIV which results in joblessness and poverty. The more women who can prevent contracting HIV, the better their family’s chances to be self reliant.

For those families who have already contracted HIV, Just Like My Child Foundation along with the Bishop Asili Hospital is helping them become self-sufficient through a micro-enterprise program called Project Grace. To learn more about Project Grace, go to my previous post Project Grace: Achieving Self Reliance in Uganda (link) and watch the inspiring video.

For more details about the study, read the full article here.

Our country director, Dena (whom you hear from a lot on here), recently notified us that George, the brother of one of our scholarship girls Nyangoma, died last week. Dena spent his last days and weeks with him, his mother Florence, and the rest of the family. Here is her touching account of the tragedy:

This has truly been an emotional roller coaster. One day we see progress with Florence and the boys, the next day they are suffering and it’s difficult to know the best way to help on the emotional front. It’s nearly impossible to turn away when you see the need of someone like Florence and her family, they are truly among the poorest.

It’s hard to imagine what it must be like as a single mother, living with AIDS and with two small children with AIDS. Her family gave her away when she was young (never providing her with any education at all) to an old man for a bunch of cattle, and now they won’t support her in any way, not even when her son George died this week. She has no family to turn to for support, no land (no place of her own, not even to bury her son), no garden, no one who believes in her… and yet she is expected to just pick herself up.

People around here (myself included at times) have gotten annoyed with her for being in denial about her situation for so long. No one talks about the fact that this is a normal psychological side effect of the disease and instead people judge her. What do they judge her for? Because she would get frustrated at times for having to take George to the hospital so frequently.

What people don’t understand is that she’s frustrated because every day she was with George at the hospital was a day when she was not working – a day she won’t be able to buy food.

Just before George got sick this last time she was so proud for working so hard: she had been promised enough work to buy a bag of corn flour (that would allow her to make porridge for the family for one month) and save enough money so that she could visit Nyangoma (her daughter and one of our scholarship girls) by herself on visiting day, for the first time. Now this has been a major goal for her in recent weeks. And she had to give it all up so that she could take care of George. Florence was forced to choose between the work that would feed her children and the hospital visit that would ease George’s suffering. For a single mother like her in Africa… to care for one child can mean the others starve. To keep everyone fed can severely affect the child wasting away from AIDS. No mother should ever be forced into such a choice. Watching Florence endure this broke my heart.

She really struggled, being so sick herself with AIDS, and taking care of two boys who also needed a lot of medical attention, she really did everything she could to help George. George’s father finally did come yesterday to take George to the family’s home place to be buried, which is customary. Florence really wanted this too, because the alternative would have been to bury him in a public site (which is basically a mass shallow grave). Her family is not in the picture or apparently helpful at all, so she is truly all alone. The father seems to care about the boys, but we don’t know where he has been all of this time. At least he was here now.

The nurses tell me that George was coherent just before he passed away. He told his mom he was losing energy to breath and asked her to take him in her arms, to sleep with her on the mat. He thought this would give him strength.

He passed away in her arms.

I sat a long time with Florence while she cried for him yesterday morning and last night. Brian (George’s brother) kept looking for George everywhere in the hospital; he still thinks George is just sleeping. The father could only afford to bring one motorcycle for George to take him to his home village of Basoga for burial, very, very far away on the opposite side of the country. He couldn’t afford to get another motorcycle to bring Florence and Brian with him. Florence said it was okay, but we put some money together to get a second motorcycle so that her and Brian could also attend, which is so important for them both.

When I think about George, I think about the times we spent here, the day we drew pictures together while we waited for his treatment outside the hospital and how happy he was about the houses and letter and numbers he had drawn. About the X-mas we all spent together watching Harry Potter, and eating cake, with the other kids, and how after his mom took him to Mild May to get treatment for TB, he came back looking so health and happy, his eyes were dancing, as if to say, “Look at me, I’m okay now.” He was so happy to be able to play with the other kids. I remember seeing him running and playing with kids for the first time. I’ll remember George this way and I’m glad he doesn’t have to suffer anymore.

Thanks so much for all of your thoughts, and thank you for your comments on remaining vigilant in helping women and children — so important, the poorest of the poor are truly in dire, dire need of help. I think for any of us here, we can get so overwhelmed by the need that it is easy to give up on the neediest, but children like George and Brian and Nyangoma and mother’s like Florence are definitely counting on us. Thank you for supporting me here and allowing me to assist in JLMC’s mission.

Love,
Dena Lewerke

The pilot of this program includes ten households, all headed by HIV/AIDS patients of Bishop Asili Hospital from two small villages in the surrounding area. These families were chosen based upon a  developed criteria, counseling sessions and home visits that ensure they are in desperate need, are extremely dedicated to the success of the project and have a family support system to take on the bulk of the project should the patient fall sick.

Nayiga Sarah, Project GRACE participant is shown in the back row left with her elderly grandfather & the many children she supports

Twenty seven year old, Nayiga Sarah is an AIDS patient at Bishop Asili Hospital. She is currently on Anti-Retral Viral treatment and has real hope for the future of her family. She is currently attempting to support seven people, which includes her elderly grand-father, her own three children and three children of other relatives that are living in her humble home. Sarah did not have the opportunity to get an education beyond seventh grade and through her struggles she has learned the importance of sending her children to school. With the help of Just Like My Child Foundations Project GRACE support, Sarah will start a poultry project that will lift her out of her desperate situation and enable her to pay for her children to go to school as well as feed her family. It is Sarah’s wish to grow and expand her poultry project and use the eggs from her hens along with the garden she has already started to provide herself and the many children of her household with nutritious meals.

Tezigatwa Amina, Project GRACE participant shown left with her children and elderly mother

Project GRACE participants are recieving intensive agricultural training to ensure the success of their projects

Nayiga Sarah and her family have already begun gathering materials for their poultry shelter

Tezigatwa Amina and her family have gathered strong materials that will be used for the walls and roofing of their poultry shelter

Trainer James from NAADS visits Nayiga Sarahs home and gives her training and advice on how to use her own home as a model for her poultry shelter

James, trainer from NAADS gives Tezigatwa Amina advice on where to place her poultry shelter and draws a diagram to help explain the building process to her

SHANTI UGANDA is a Vancouver based organization dedicated to helping children, women and communities in Uganda find peace and health. It is their belief that in order to overcome trauma and conflict within a community, we must first allow individuals to heal and uplift their minds, bodies and spirits. Their programs provide the tools needed to find inner peace and well-being, foster conscious birth and manifest health, happiness and community.  All Shanti Uganda projects combine healing, birth education and community development initiatives. Natalie Angell, founder of Shanti Uganda has been here at Bishop Asili for the last few days training a small group of HIV positive women on how to make paper bead necklaces. The women are to gather for five full days to learn the methods involved in cutting and measuring paper, rolling beads, varnishing beads, hanging them to dry and then finally making them into beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Natalie Angell and her counterpart Julius work together to train the women on the bead making process

Thirty women eagerly gather together in this round hut every day to learn and practice what they've been taught

The paper must first be measured and cut properly in order for it to be rolled into a perfect paper bead shape.

The paper is then rolled tightly around a needle. It takes a great deal of patients and practice in order to ensure that the outcome is a quality paper bead. The process is meticulous and challenging.

Natalie and Julius give the women constructive criticism for improved quality and praise to those beads that are well made.

The beads are placed on strings and covered with a clear varnish. Once they have dried they will be strung into lovely pieces of jewelry, which will be purchased from the women by Shanti Uganda

I stopped by the hut to greet the women and to see how things were coming along for Natalie and Julius. The women were all enthusiastically making beads and are all clearly enjoying their newly learned skill!! Each of them is walking a treacherous path in life that most of us cannot relate to. It’s such a joy to see a hint of hope in these women’ s eyes.

http://shantiuganda.blogspot.com

By mid morning their was a huge crowd of community members gathered along with the dozens of HIV positive people who had come for ARV’s and treatment for opportunistic infections as well as people coming for voluntary HIV testing and counseling.
Bishop Asili was a hopping place from morning until the sun went down. A great deal of valuable information was passed along to the Luwero community today.
http://www.justlikemychild.com/

(Left to Right: Salango of the BA HIV Post Test Club, John of the Community Outreach Team & Nicholyn Chang)
Left: Allen, Right: Patient of Bishop Asili Clinic)
We also sat in on a practice focus group discussion led by John and Allen, which is a means by which to get feedback on the same issue, but using a different forum. Nicholyn describes it as triangulation, which is a strategy used to ensure accuracy in data collection.

Afterwords, John and Allen came by to review the practice session that we conducted. We went over all of the questions and talked about all of the necessary changes. Nicholyn took notes so that she can make changes to the document before we conduct the actual survey. It was really interesting to learn what kinds of changes needed to be made (e.g. Malaria should be referred to as “Fever”) in order to ensure that average villagers will understand the questions being asked of them. We gave John and Allen a great deal of praise for all of their hard work. Allen had other commitments to a family member in Kampala, but he stayed in Luwero for the day to help us with this practice survey and for no compensation.
http://www.justlikemychild.com/

Today Nicholyn Chang and I decided to go and learn some of the ins and outs of a typical day at Bishop Asili. Mondays are HIV/AIDS clinic days at Bishop Asili hospital. This day is dedicated to all of the patients who come for HIV testing, ARV distribution, CD4 count, testimonies through dance and song as well as adult education. We were given the privilege of sitting in on a pre HIV testing counseling session with a very young girl and boy who were being forced by their parents to marry one another. The soon to be young couple were placed together because their families are both wealthy cattle keepers. It was in both families best interest that the two be married. We learned a great deal about how Ugandans counsel in such situations and all of the things that must be culturally considered. We also met up with Salongo, who assists with the adult education program and HIV/AIDS support club here at Bishop Asili Hospital and the surrounding community. In this picture Salongo is wearing one of the income generating crafts that are made by the HIV positive women’s group that he supports and provides education for.

Nicholyn and I also spent some time with a club made up of HIV positive people who use song and dance to spread the world about the virus and how it’s contracted. Here they are singing a rather catchy and amusing song in local language about how their heads, hearts and bodies are always causing them pain as a result of the virus. They want to convince other people that those who contract HIV suffer greatly. They use this form of entertainment to educate others and provide themselves with a form of testimonial therapy. All of these club members are open about their HIV status. We were really pleased to see a male member in their club because the population of HIV positive males who expose their status and try to live with the virus in a healthy way is very low and therefore problematic. The second woman in on the left is the mother of Kiberu William who is one of Just Like My Child’s scholarship recipients. I’m also happy to see her coping with the virus in a positive way.

http://www.justlikemychild.com/