HIV/AIDS had never really meant much to me because I only read or heard about it from afar. My former workplace, World Vision Uganda, had HIV/AIDS projects passing on prevention messages but did not offer treatment. During the first weeks at my placement organization Reach Out Mbuya (ROM), I was surprised by the number of people at the office on specific work days; I kept wondering whether they were staff coming from other sites for meetings. Later, I realized that these individuals were not staff, but clients that came to receive treatment at ROM, which provides a holistic model of care that includes the body, mind, family, and community. On learning this, I got scared, since I’m in touch with patients 3 days a week! What if something goes wrong? Am I safe? What happens when an individual with TB comes in? Will I contract it? In my dismay, I recalled Phill Wilson’s story of losing a partner to HIV related illness and nearly dying in 1995. Phill channeled his anger to HIV/AIDS prevention and founded the Black AIDS Institute. He created a good cause out of his anger, what am I to do?
It’s at this point that I remembered am a Global Health Corp fellow. If the Yale training was about us being part of a global health movement, this seemed more real; I had to wake up and realize that being part of this movement for health equity meant serving my organization’s clients regardless of their condition and my fears. I have now come to terms with working closely with people living with HIV because 40% of my workmates are clients of ROM, so I not only serve people living with HIV but work with them daily. My role as a monitoring and evaluation officer ensures this close working relationship; I conduct client satisfaction surveys, implement client home visits, evaluate core program areas, conduct data quality assessments, and assess clients for enrollment into the food and nutrition support as well as operation child support programs.
During my two weeks’ work with the Operation Child Support (OSC) section, I was invited to attend a sports gala that had been organized for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). The theme for the gala was; “Sports for Health” and it brought together thousands of vulnerable children, the majority being HIV positive. It was a fun-filled day with various sports including netball, volleyball, football, racing, music, dance, and drama. Interacting with different children at the gala affirmed how wrong I was about HIV; I mean what did I think? Was an infected person going to come to me with a banner over their forehead reading “I AM HIV positive” or what? I am now aware that HIV/AIDS is real, but there is hope for living positively. As I serve in my yearlong fellowship, I am more committed to restoring hope because I am a Global Health Corp fellow.
Netball match at the sports gala
Football match at the sports gala