Bishop Asili Hospital is finding that a growing number of their HIV positive clientele are quite healthy and have a second chance at life as a result of getting the best possible treatment available as well as having the opportunity to check their CD4 count when necessary. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of stigma in Uganda towards HIV positive people, which has left nearly all of the patients jobless and with no means by which to support themselves or their families. Together with Just Like My Child Foundation, Bishop Asili Hospital has launched Project GRACE (Guiding Resources and Creating Empowerment), a microfinance program designed to lift healthy HIV/AIDS clientele out of poverty through self motivated and sustainable income generation activities involving pigs and poultry.

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.

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.

Twenty three year old, Tezigatwa Amina is an HIV positive patient at Bishop Asili Hospital. She is currently taking the treatment  Septrin and although she lost her husband to AIDS she remains hopeful and looks forward to a bright future.  Amina only has a fifth grade education, yet she is extremely active and ambitious in her pursuit of happiness for herself and her large family.  She is currently attempting to support her elderly mother, her own four young children and her sister’s son.  Just Like My Child Foundations Project GRACE support will allow Amina the opportunity to start a poultry project, which she plans to utilize in feeding her family and expanding her farm to include both coffee and bananas.  Amina is an entrepreneur at heart and has a desire to become part of a village banking or savings program with the profits from her project.  She has chosen to act as an empowered role model of success for her young children and the community living around her, regardless of the virus that plagues her.

Intensive training has been provided for the program participants on topics such as rearing pigs, rearing chickens, building shelters for their animls, proper feed and immunizations, opening a savings account, budgeting finances, living in a healthy and positive way as well as planning for the future.  Each group of Project GRACE Participants will support one another and work towards success together in their villages. They will act as a role model for all of the members of their community with the goal of encouraging others to come to the clinic to be tested for HIV as well as eradicating the stigma associated with the virus. Participants of the project will be required to gather materials and help build the shelter required for their animals as well as bring something tangible back to Bishop Asili (e.g. one female pig & one male pig) so that other identified, healthy HIV positive patients will later benefit and to ensure sustainability of the overall program.

Participants of Project GRACE will give the Bishop Asili counselor weekly updates on the progress of their projects during their regularly scheduled counseling visits. Bishop Asili staff will also make regular visits to the home of the participants to observe the successes and outcomes of their income generating activities.

The Project GRACE participants are well on their way to recieving the animals that will provide sustainable income to their families. Check back soon to see updates on Nayiga Sarah and Tezigatwa Amina as well as the other eight Project GRACE families that Just Like My Child Foundation is supporting through sustainable micro-enterprise activities.