I woke up to the alarm I had set for 6.30, giving me half an hour to get ready for sunrise and our planned departure to Iganga. Shared a sleepy cup of tea with Julie before she revealed that there had been a change of plan late last night and that we were now due to leave at 9am. I sloped back to bed and then met Sandra, from NACWOLA when she arrived on time, but unfortunately without the vehicle to leave in. Plan A of a UNAIDS car had, despite assurances, not materialised, so we reverted to Plan B which was to travel in the NACWOLA vehicle. However, this had already been booked so we resorted to Plan C which was to stay in the hotel and work from there to get an idea of the project. This actually worked out for the best, allowing us time to ask questions and for me to get a clear enough picture to put together the 1500 word initial project outline that (Prof) Harry had assigned to be completed and submitted by that evening (!!!).
Joined by Irene, a former journalist and current fellow in the communications dept at UNAIDS, Sandra began to guide us through NACWOLAs activities and multiple projects across Uganda. NACWOLA is unique in that it is the only national NGO for women living with HIV/AIDS (WLHA) that is also predominantly staffed by them. Sandra, a project officer in Iganga, was able to outline the impact of NACWOLA by tracing her own experience with the organisation, first as a member of the network and beneficiary of services and psychosocial support, through to her current of offering those services and support as a NACWOLA employee. Sandra showed how, in no exaggerated terms she owed her life to the NACWOLA. By encouraging her to be tested and providing support through the whole process as well as follow up, she was tested, began ARV therapy, was empowered and enabled to live positively. She now has two of her own children, a husband and an adopted HIV orphan in her family.
NACWOLA offer holistic support for PLWHAs. They recognise that women’s wellbeing is inseparable from that of their immediate families, and that care goes beyond facilitating ARV treatment to include psychosocial support, access to information and legal services, community sensitisation and assistance with income generating activities and nutritional support. At the heart of their work are Community Support Agents. These are PLWHAs themselves who NACWOLA recruits and trains to mobilise community members to get tested and access treatment and wrap around services. Community based CSAs do door-to-door visits to recruit new members into the network and refer them for testing and other health services. They also continue to support existing members. Facility based CSAs meet NACWOLA members who have been referred for testing and treatment at the health facility, and guide and support them through the process, offering pre and post testing counselling. These CSAs form a bridge between community members and health service providers, to increase demand, uptake and the quality of HIV/AIDS and wrap around services.
For a break for the groups working at the hotel, lunch was had in the beautiful Speke resort. The ambling walk there and back allowed plenty of time for chit chat and inter-group introductions and mingling, I sat with Irene and Sandra, hoping to get to know them a little better and move beyond the wall of politeness that had been established. However, they soon slipped into Luganda, their shared local dialect while I sat lemon-like. I interjected at a couple of points to ask what they were speaking, and which language would be best to learn. As they returned to Luganda after answering I realised that, should I be posted to Iganga for 6 months I was going to be completely isolated unless I learnt the lingo.
At 7pm those remaining the hotel (mainly the private sector folk who had flown in from the US and Europe) were all officially welcomed into the programme by Julie, the CEO and founder of Pepal. A huge buffet and relaxed seating arrangements gave us all a chance to relax, mingle and get to know one another and the different projects/business models that were going to be developed in the coming days. While those who were new to Africa appeared shocked by the poverty they had seen, the field trip experiences had been "powerful" (as Bonnie said) and provided the motivation needed to really work hard to develop the business models that could make a positive impact.
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