Busy Busy!

I did not sleep at all last night. Not for one minute. I was in bed from 12am to 7am, awake. My mind was busy; thinking of my day- one of the best of my life, and the room next to me was up watching the Super Bowl until 6:30am. The men were talking, laughing and shouting the whole night- Earplugs couldn't even block them. Needless to say, the day was rough.

7:30am yoga- I found my way to the fitness center and as I was telling Nikki that I hadn't slept all night, I started to cry, mostly out of frustration and worry that the day would be a huge mess of emotion due to lack of sleep. After an hour of really incredible yoga I was feeling much more grounded and prepared to face my day. THANK THE UNIVERSE!

After yoga and breakfast, we visited the Youth Aids office in Kampala. We donated $10,000 to their organization and the staff set up a very interesting presentation for us. Some of their products and services include condom distribution, clean water systems education and distribution, fidelity campaigns (commitment to one relationship to prevent the spread of HIV), support for those who already have HIV, cross-generational sex prevention campaigns, family planning, and Malaria prevention.

Currently, one million people are living with AIDS in Uganda. 200,000 are in need of ARVs and BCP (the drugs an infected person can take to control and lessen the effects of the disease) and only 90,000 are on ARVs. The country's goal is to reduce infection by 25% by 2012.

Young women are four times more likely to have HIV than their male counterparts, so YouthAids created a campaign to target these women specifically. They found that the risk of HIV infection doubles for girls 15-19 years old when their partner is 10 or more years older. This kind of relationship is referred to as "Cross-generational Sex," or "Sugar Daddy Relationships." We listened to a testimony from a young woman named Esther, explaining her "narrow escape" from a potential Sugar Daddy. Esther was 19 and off to college. Her professor encouraged her to come to his office one day and suggested in so many words that they have a relationship, even though he claimed to love his wife and children. Esther kept coming up with lies in order to avoid rejecting her professor, as he had the power to control her grades. He started to slip her money in envelopes, and occasionally he took her out to dinner, but they hadn't had sex. After a few months, he was putting so much pressure on Esther that she felt she would not be able to lie any longer. Coincidentally, there was a presentation at her university conducted by YouthAids about cross-generational sex and she decided to check it out, only because it was at her school. She felt that the presentation was speaking directly to her and helped her find the strength necessary to share her story with her aunt and become empowered to stand up to her professor. She can now say "no" to him confidently, though he still pursues her to this day. Esther is now a volunteer "Go-Getter" for YouthAids, traveling around the country, sharing her story so that other young girls might come to understand that they do not need the help of an older man to have what they want in this life. The campaign also aims to involve the parents more, so that their daughters can feel they have someone to talk. It is YouthAids' hope that girls will start planning for the long term (consideration of education, pregnancy and AIDS) rather than what they want in the moment (i.e.: a cell phone or money). The campaign targets girls in secondary school so that they can be informed before reaching college. It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the freedom of university life.

In regards to the men, YouthAids has developed a fidelity program that may help son's see their father's as role models. If fathers are showing their son's that they respect the women in the household and remain faithful, the son will learn these values as well.

While these programs are more appropriate for the literate, urban community, the organization also provides an income-generating program for the rural, impoverished areas. Free condom distribution and free testing days are available around the country, though, it is still difficult to determine what is the most sustainable way to reach the poorest of the poor, especially when alcohol and sex are at the top of the priority list. One solution is providing female sex workers with condoms for a distribution program. The more condoms they sell, the more money they make, and most of these women are simply trying to support their children. There are more than 6,000 sex workers in Kampala, several underage girls. YouthAids makes sure that the places these women work have condoms.

YouthAids put together an "HIV Prevention Kit" that they distribute free of charge to anyone suffering from HIV/AIDS. The kit includes a water vessel, filter cloth and water guard to purify their drinking water. Also included in the kit are condoms, antibiotics, a book that highlights the benefits of healthy living, and mosquito nets. The mosquito nets are very important as to prevent a secondary infection. It is usually malaria or TB that ends up killing the HIV positive Ugandan, due to their already suffering immune system.

We heard a testimony from a man named Mohammad. He was diagnosed with HIV in 2001 and fell very sick, very quickly. When his wife heard the news, she left him and took their 6 children with her. When President George W. Bush visited Uganda during his first term, Mohammad met with him as a representative of the AIDS community. President Bush was moved by Mohammad's plight and made sure Mohammad got the medicine that he needed. A few years later, Bush sent 2 administrator’s over to Uganda to check on Mohammad. Mohammad was doing very well on the medication and had even been trained in Reflexology and Aroma Therapy in order to help sooth other HIV positive Ugandans. Bush then invited Mohammad to D.C. to visit the White house. This was an incredible honor for Mohammad. Bush agreed to provide $8 billion dollars to fund HIV, malaria and TB prevention in Uganda. Mohammad will be meeting President Obama later this year.

After the presentation, we drove to YouthAids warehouse to see how they package the HIV Prevention kits. It is all done by hand. Forty people work together to package about 200,000 kits a day. The system was incredible to witness.

After our informative morning with YouthAids we had authentic Ugandan cuisine for lunch. Delicious! Then we went to the Kasubi Tombs for a very brief history of the Kingdom of Buganda. This is a very sacred area for Ugandans and it was an honor to be in the presence of the decedents of the Kings and Queens of Uganda. The ancestors live around the parameter of the tombs and several use the tombs as a bedroom.

I must be honest; The Uganda Museum was a disappointment! Maybe I was too tired to enjoy it, but I expected more, as it is the only museum in the country. I could tell that there were some updated exhibits, but for the most part, things were not labeled or very poorly labeled, and we only had 20 minutes to breeze through.

I am off to dinner at the hotel this evening and after group processing I intend to get an excellent night's sleep! Early tomorrow morning we are leaving for the birth center in Kasana, about an hour and 15 minutes north of Kampala. There will not be Internet access there, so unfortunately I will not be blogging again for another 2 or 3 days.

Don't miss me too much!

xoxo
Megan :)