TASO

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We have begun doing field visits to different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work within the country. For our first visit, our group was split up into two different subdivisions. My group visited a HIV/AIDS support organization. The other went to a nutrition unit that deals with malnourished children.

At TASO, the HIV/AIDS NGO, we were introduced to the activities as the organization. The organization has about seven sites around the country. We visited the one in Kampala. They said that they have over 32,000 people in their databases who have tested HIV positive and have sought help at the Kampala site. We were informed that some of their other satellite sites have surpassed the Kampala numbers. The organization mainly deals with supporting people who have already contracted the virus—offering them counseling, medicine, education, etc. However, they also work to reduce the stigma that is attached to the virus. To do this, they have a drumming group that is made up of people who are HIV positive. They sing, dance, and drum to songs they have written about HIV/AIDS, the stigma attached to it, means of prevention, and their personal accounts. I may know people who are HIV positive in the states, but since it is a taboo/personal subject that was the first time I was introduced to people who are openly HIV+.

After they preformed a number of their songs for us, one of the women of the group sat down and recounted her experience with the virus. She was born into poverty and her family didn’t have enough money to pay for her schooling (currently, primary and secondary education are “free” but people are still required to buy books, make donations to the school, etc.--i.e. they're NOT free) so she was told to stay at home. One day she was introduced to an older man from a different village who offered to pay for her schooling. She told him that she would like that very much. Unfortunately, the man said that he could not begin paying at that time, but would be back in a few months and she could enlist when he returned. When he returned a few months later, he informed her that he was once again financially unable to pay for her schooling and that she should wait a few months. The next time that she saw him, he invited her to a party. She went and throughout the night he kept offering her mixed drinks. She initially refused but finally accepted after he continuously insisted. She ended up getting very drunk and, that night, the man raped her.

The next day he informed her that if she told anyone he would not pay for her schooling. Wanting very much to attend school, she vowed to never tell anyone. A few months later, she heard that the man’s wife died of AIDS. She went into get tested and learned that she was HIV positive.

She said that she cried for many days and fell into a deep depression. She thought that she would soon die and life seemed pointless. Following her diagnosis, she visited TASO where she received counseling. Eventually she realized that being HIV positive didn’t mean that she would soon die. She has since joined the drumming group and has received an education from TASO.

It was quite an amazing/disgusting/disturbing story—I was fighting back tears as she recounted her gut-wrenching experience. I can’t imagine going through such an experience and not forever despising the person who did that to you. Maybe she does, I didn’t ask.

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I bought a VHS documentary on the group. I haven’t been able to watch it yet but I think it would be cool to show at PLU for World AIDS Day—Lace, I already obtained permission from the makers and producers to show it on our campus 😊

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