Sarah Acuda is a widow and mother in Boro Boro, Uganda. After her husband died in 2007, she was persuaded by neighbours to be tested for HIV. At the time, testing was not available at local clinics and she had to travel to the hospital in Lira. Sarah tested positive and immediately started septrin treatment (ARVs didn’t become available in northern Uganda until 2009).

Sarah has three children of which the youngest is just nine years old and the eldest 16. Her three younger children have all thankfully tested negative for HIV, but her eldest as of yet refused to be tested, fearful that a positive result would dramatically change the future.

Wishing she had had access to testing and counseling earlier, Sarah was one of the first in her community to volunteer to be trained as part of the new Village Health Team established through a CAP/AIDS Network initiative. As a VHT member she is charged with educating the community and encouraging community members to seek out HIV testing and services. Today she is an advocate and mentor to young mothers, helping to make sure that all women know their status and, if need be, receive prevention of mother-to-child transmission services during pregnancy and childbirth.

Hellen is already 50 years old, but still have six children in here care. She, like so many women in her community, has taken in orphaned children and is working hard to ensure that they have a chance at a bright and happy future.

In 2010, Hellen was struggling to make ends meet just providing for basic needs of shelter and food. Working as a petty trader she was earning just 50,000 UGX ($20) per month.

Then, she joined a Caregivers group convened through CAP/AIDS' local partner Needy Support Centre. With funding and technical assistance through the CAP/AIDS Network, these caregivers received training, mentorship and start-up capital to establish new cooperative enterprises. Taking what they had learned and with their investment of $2,000, these 18 caregivers were able to purchase all the supplies and tools they needed to begin a jewelry making and SimSim paste production workshop.

By the end of 2012, Hellen was earning 200,000 UGX per month, and was supporting four of the children to attend school. A remarkable transformation for her family in a short time!

Now that their business has become more established, Hellen's income has increases to over 280,000 UGX ($120) per month - enough to provide for all the children to attend school, receive medical care and take care of all their household needs.

Not that Hellen's efforts as a Caregiver is easy. Hellen's family along with much of the Needy Support Centre membership has twice been evicted from their rented homes in squatter settlements of Kampala. Having to relocate for second time just recently is putting pressure on their group as they are no longer living in close proximity. Nonetheless, they are determined to continue in their enterprise and to support each other as a group. Together they are supporting more than 89 children!

FROM THE ARCHIVES - check out this video made by a former intern about the NSC Caregivers group back in 2012.

Picture a place close to home.

Where all members of the community are welcome.

Where neighbours come together to provide support to one another and tackle challenges.

The Harvey Friesen Memorial Centre – affectionately known by the community as the ‘Home of Hope’ – is CAPAIDS Uganda’s operational headquarters. Located in Boro Boro, northern Uganda, the Home of Hope enables direct contact with our partner communities and provide a safe space for HIV/AIDS support groups, for community trainings and meetings.

This community facility was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Friesen family in B.C. who raised the funds in memory of husband, father and grandfather Harvey Friesen – he loved life, helping others and was an outspoken advocate for social justice. Having visited East Africa twice, he was deeply moved by the warmth, resilience and strength of the people. The Home of Hope is very much symbolic of what he believed and supported throughout his life.

When the Home of Hope was built, the children in the Friesen clan worked together to raise funds for a playground on the grounds, a wonderful addition allowing children to play while their parents participated in trainings and support group meetings.

Recently, CAPAIDS Uganda invested in a small piggery operation which not only helps to funds the operations of the Home of Hope, but serves also as a training facility for local youth looking to develop similar piggeries as income generating small enterprises.

This is the first of many such projects that are planned. Our vision is to develop the Home of Hope into a training centre for agricultural enterprises as a continuation of our work helping orphan-headed families to develop sustainable livelihoods.

Together, we can help a generation of orphans in surrounding communities to escape the cycle of HIV/AIDS and poverty and look towards a brighter future!

Thanks to the participation of riders and their sponsors, the 2014 AIDS Ride for Africa bike-athons raised $33,000. Funds are being disbursed to ten community-based projects in five African countries!

In Ethiopia:

Funds are supporting KMG Ethiopia's efforts to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV & increase HIV/AIDS awareness for pregnant women in Kembatta Tembaro Zone. KMG is supported by our Canadian partner Ethiopiaid Canada.

In Ghana:

Funds are supporting the community of Sandema to provide HIV testing, providing bed nets to people living with HIV and to disseminate HIV/AIDS awareness programs over the local radio station. Sandema is supported by our Canadian partner Step by Step Africa.

In Kenya:

Funds are supporting the Kijiji Cha Upendo Children's Project in the Kibera slum community of Nairobi to support sustainable livelihoods for families caring for AIDS orphans and to provide school fees. Kijiji Cha Upendo is supported by our Canadian partner Village of Love Canada.

Funds are also supporting the SEED Canada schools in Kibera providing affordable education for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children and youth.

In Tanzania:

Funds are supported Pippi House, a shelter for street girls working to reduce vulnerability by protecting them from high risk behaviours and to help them access skills training and employment.

Funds are also supporting Africa's Children Africa's Future's Orphans and Vulnerable Children Support Programme which aims to secure a better future for children affected by AIDS in Dar es Salaam.

Finally, funds are also supporting UMWI and Rainbow Centre, projects based in Arusha benefiting women and youth affected by HIV/AIDS through counseling and livelihood support. UMWI and Rainbow Centre are supported by our Canadian partner CSRAI. 

In Uganda:

Funds are supporting the CAP/AIDS Home of Hope - a community resource centre in Boro Boro used for support group meetings, HIV/AIDS education and livelihood training for AIDS-affected youth.

Funds are also support a Women’s Income Generating group employing 21 HIV positive mothers and grandmothers from Luweero at the Shanti Uganda Birth Centre.

Finally, funds are supporting the Network for African Youth Leadership and Development Learning Centre in Luweero providing alternative education opportunities for our of school orphans and vulnerable children as well as HIV/AIDS outreach within the community.

Together we are enabling amazing people on the ground in these communities to reduce vulnerability and ensure a brighter fruture for children, youth and families affected HIV/AIDS!

Thanks to the participation of riders and their sponsors, the 2014 AIDS Ride for Africa bike-athons raised $33,000. Funds are being disbursed to ten community-based projects in five African countries!

In Ethiopia:

Funds are supporting KMG Ethiopia's efforts to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV & increase HIV/AIDS awareness for pregnant women in Kembatta Tembaro Zone. KMG is supported by our Canadian partner Ethiopiaid Canada.

In Ghana:

Funds are supporting the community of Sandema to provide HIV testing, providing bed nets to people living with HIV and to disseminate HIV/AIDS awareness programs over the local radio station. Sandema is supported by our Canadian partner Step by Step Africa.

In Kenya:

Funds are supporting the Kijiji Cha Upendo Children's Project in the Kibera slum community of Nairobi to support sustainable livelihoods for families caring for AIDS orphans and to provide school fees. Kijiji Cha Upendo is supported by our Canadian partner Village of Love Canada.

Funds are also supporting the SEED Canada schools in Kibera providing affordable education for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children and youth.

In Tanzania:

Funds are supported Pippi House, a shelter for street girls working to reduce vulnerability by protecting them from high risk behaviours and to help them access skills training and employment.

Funds are also supporting Africa's Children Africa's Future's Orphans and Vulnerable Children Support Programme which aims to secure a better future for children affected by AIDS in Dar es Salaam.

Finally, funds are also supporting UMWI and Rainbow Centre, projects based in Arusha benefiting women and youth affected by HIV/AIDS through counseling and livelihood support. UMWI and Rainbow Centre are supported by our Canadian partner CSRAI. 

In Uganda:

Funds are supporting the CAP/AIDS Home of Hope - a community resource centre in Boro Boro used for support group meetings, HIV/AIDS education and livelihood training for AIDS-affected youth.

Funds are also support a Women’s Income Generating group employing 21 HIV positive mothers and grandmothers from Luweero at the Shanti Uganda Birth Centre.

Finally, funds are supporting the Network for African Youth Leadership and Development Learning Centre in Luweero providing alternative education opportunities for our of school orphans and vulnerable children as well as HIV/AIDS outreach within the community.

Together we are enabling amazing people on the ground in these communities to reduce vulnerability and ensure a brighter fruture for children, youth and families affected HIV/AIDS!

Molly Okello lives in Aboke, northern Uganda with her husband Oscar and their baby girl. Since both have lost parents, they also care for seven younger brothers and sisters – a big responsibility for the young couple.

Imagine, in their early thirties, a young married couple here in Canada might be considering buying a home, enjoying their first child and worrying about finding the ideal work/life balance. Molly and Oscar were worrying about how they’d feed 10 children. How on earth they’d ever be able to send them to school. How to decide between investing in their small farm and meeting their basic needs today.

In June 15, 2010, Molly was invited to join the caregivers group of our local partner the Aboke HIV&AIDS Women’s Association. This was the day her life began to change.

Within six months Molly had participated in four one-on-one coaching sessions which helped her build a plan for earning an income while still being able to care for her family and had participated in a five-day training on running a small agricultural business. Then, early in 2011, she, along with the other caregivers in her group, were provided with piglets, goats to start backyard animal raising enterprises as well as high yield, in-demand seeds for planting and oxen to help them to farm larger plots of land.

Within a year, Molly’s income had increased from a just UGX 30,000 (just 50¢ a day) to UGX 210,000 – a 600% increase!

In the summer of 2012, Molly took part in a refresher training and was given a small capital investment to help her to expand her operations. By then, she was already providing three meals a day and paying for all seven kids to attend school.

Molly’s income has continued to improve and she has since expanded her animal holdings to include a cow. She has been diligently saving in the past year so that she can afford the cost of secondary school – since her brother will, this year, be the first in the family to go on to a secondary education.

In 2010, Jesca Wambura was living with HIV and working nearby the office of TRMEGA – CAP/AIDS’s local partner outside of Arusha, Tanzania. She would often see people coming and going from the small office and would even overhear them talking about HIV/AIDS. One day in 2011, she finally decided to attend one of their support group meetings and was happy to find many people who were HIV-positive like her coming together to help each other out. As a member of the group she received some loans to help her start a vegetable garden on her small plot of land which helps to supplement the small income she earns. She uses the extra income to pay for school fees for her three children – aged 11, 10 and four.

In 2013 Jesca received one of 10 bikes which were distributed to TRMEGA members. She uses the bike to help her in her daily work such as fetching water, to travel to and from her work and to transport vegetables to the market.

After receiving so much benefit, Jesca was also determined to make a difference in the lives of other women like her. She now uses her bike to meet with other small women’s groups in the area to share what she has learned through TRMEGA about living positively with HIV and to help them to start their own savings and loans groups. She is grateful for the bike and hopes that the other women’s groups will benefit from bikes too!

MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH YOUR BIKE TOO!

Achieng Eunice has devoted her life to helping people living with HIV/AIDS, recognizing their struggles not only with the disease, but just to access health care.

In her community of Boro Boro, northern Uganda, HIV/AIDS has had a shattering effect, making widows out of wives and orphaned children out of families. For those still battling with the disease, many are too weak to cope with raising a family single-handedly, to earn a living, or pay for their children's schooling. Achieng has been working as a nurse for the Boro Boro Health Centre (a CAP/AIDS partner), trying to better the lives of her patients. But while the health centre's rural location provided key services to an area far from a town or city hospital, it was still too difficult to reach for many, especially those physically weary from HIV/AIDS. Achieng's work was challenging, since patients would often be unreachable.

The provision of a bicycle immediately increased the effectiveness of her work. As a part of the Bike Distribution program, CAP/AIDS gave Achieng a bicycle to widen her support network. Now she can deliver immunization and counseling to more patients, check up on those who have been bed-ridden by HIV/AIDS, transport people to the health centre, and test men for HIV/AIDS who would normally be too reluctant to be tested in public. She says that now 'when you gave us the bicycle, … it was even very easy for us to go for outreach.'

The power of two wheels underneath her has enabled Achieng to go just about anywhere – with her HIV immunization kit, and with her dreams. Now she can envision her health centre becoming a hospital, providing all of the needed services to truly fight HIV/AIDS.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH YOUR BIKE TOO!

One can’t help being reminded of the stories of Pied Piper when they see Valeriano play his whistle and dance down the road. Unlike this strange German folktale, however, Valeriano is leading his village to a better future, one without HIV/AIDS.

As an elder in his Aboke village, Valeriano Angweng has seen his community at it’s worst in decades. With the prevalence of HIV and the strain of manual labour, people were barely able to maintain a livelihood, children could not afford to attend school, or were orphaned. Organizations like Aboke HIV/AIDS Women’s Association (AHAWA) began to address these issues, but they had much work ahead of them. Quickly seeing the great value of their efforts, Valeriano spread his enthusiasm, mobilizing people to support AHAWA. His influence as an elder and his unquestionable charm have led countless people to join this grassroots movement that prevents HIV/AIDS and improves quality of life.

CAP/AIDS supported AHAWA’s grassroots efforts by becoming their core partner and providing income generating capital. This capital came in all shapes and sizes: oxen for ploughing, seeds for the farms, piglets to raise and sell, as well as bicycles so that farmers could transport their goods to the market to sell. Valeriano was given an ox in order to ease the physical labour of farming, and piglets to raise. Valeriano is thrilled with the change this has produced in his life and in his community. Dancing around as though he were a young child rather than an elder, Valeriano says, "By the time I started benefiting from the support… I began dancing and praising with happiness and joy, because my pocket there is money and income coming every day."

Valeriano had enough income for himself and for others. He shared his wealth back with his community, giving children the money they needed to go to school. Valeriano's generosity and concern for his community ensure that the development benefits of oxen and piglets continue beyond income generation, to support education and well-being in Aboke. The elation visible on his face and body, Valeriano shouts “that's because with CAP/AIDS I dance!"

Tausi Abdala is an HIV widow from Tanzania. She has six children of her own still living under her roof and is also caring for 2 of her grandchildren who have been orphaned.

Tausi is a member of the Morning Star Savings and Loan Group organized by CAP/AIDS’ local partner TRMEGA. Through her participation in Morning Star, she has received training in community mobilization and living positively along with access to credit which she can use to support her livelihoods activities and provide for the many children in her care.

This past year, Tausi also received a bike to help her with her community work. With the ability to travel between villages, Tausi took it upon herself to start her own widows support group. She registered the names of HIV widows with local churches and mosques and uses her bike to transport food aid to help them provide for orphaned children. During her visits she also shares HIV/AIDS information and provides peer counseling support.

Tausi is using her bike to provide care, comfort and basic needs for more than 10 HIV-affected families.

Joyce uses her bike to provide for her family and to reach out to other HIV/AIDS affected members of her community…

You can put your bike to good use too on June 15th!

Joyce is quick to express her gratitude for the generosity of the Canadians who helped CPA/AODS to provide her with her bike and supported her to develop a sustainable livelihood so she can provide for the many children in her care.

She hopes you’ll save the date and plan to join the AIDS Ride for Africa on June 15th so more families can experience the benefits she has!

________________________________________________________

More about Joyce and her amazing home filled with children:

  Joyce Oroma is a grandmother, caregiver of AIDS-orphans and is also a volunteer mobilizer of CAP/AIDS with CAP/AIDS’s local partner Needy Support Centre in Kampala Uganda. Joyce is the embodiment of giving – working hard to feed, house, clothe and educate 20 orphans while also providing counseling, care and support for people living with HIV&AIDS in her community!

As a widow, and sole provider for the household, Joyce’s life is anything but easy. Until just a few years ago, she was earning a living by acting as a ‘middleman’, buying maize on the outskirts of the city and carrying it 4km downtown to a market where she could fetch a better price. The money she earned was barely enough to feed all the children. She wanted the children to go to school but they were often chased away because she could not pay their schools fees.

Way back in 2007 Joyce received a bicycle through our Bike to CAP/AIDS program. The bicycle makes transporting her maize very easy and allowed her to make two or three trips in one day – thus tripling her income! She has also turned it into a bicycle taxi in her neighbourhood. This earns her 15,000 to 30,000 shillings (approx $6 to $12) per day.  Now she earns enough to feed her family and to pay school fees for all the children in her care. The bicycle also helps her in her mobilizing and makes transporting herself to counsel people much easier.

Recently, Joyce also joined with other caregivers in the Needy Support Centre community to diversity their livelihoods through new income generating projects. She is working with others to grind SimSim Paste which they package and sell at local markets as well as to make jewelry which they are trying to market through boutiques in tourist areas. These activities have been supported through CAP/AIDS’ This Sustainable Livelihoods for AIDS Orphans and Caregivers Project through which Joyce and the others received training in small enterprise management, support for developing their business and marketing plans as well as start-up capital.

The extra income she is now earning helps Joyce to access treatment for the children in her care who are HIV positive.

I can’t believe six months has come and gone. The past six months were nothing short of amazing. This internship has allowed me to grow both professionally and personally. I worked in an office with a group of people who have all shaped me in different ways. Together we had the most intense conversations that were both enlightening and challenging. I discovered the importance of cross-cultural communication and how challenging cultural barriers can be.

Allison and I had the opportunity to travel to northern Uganda two more times. The way we were welcomed into people’s everyday lives and homes, is unexplainable. I built bonds that have forever changed me. We met people from all walks of life and worked with them to design projects and proposals based on their needs. I learned new things everyday through the life lessons they shared, and through correcting my own mistakes. I learned how far listening and respect goes, and how little feeling sorry will take you. Six months put into perspective how long it takes to make significant developmental change, but how easy it is to positively impact somebody's life.

On a personal note, the past three months have been nothing short of adventure. I trekked through Bwindi impenetrable forest to Gorillas in their natural surroundings. Drove through winding roads along lush green hillsides (or terrifying cliffs, depending on how you looked at it)!  I swam in pristine waters, surrounded by islands, hills and hand carved canoes. I rafted the Nile…three times! Flew to Tanzania, hiked to and swam in waterfalls on Christmas Eve! I walked the winding and mind-blowing roads of Stone Town, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. I experienced the feeling of traveling alone and really coming to appreciate your own company, space and freedom. I made friends on the beach, swam in turquoise waters and relaxed on the white sand in Zanzibar. Snorkeled and got stung by what felt like all the jellyfish in the sea (…not the kind that can kill you). Best of all, my dad traveled to Uganda, and loved it! It was great to have somebody experience this with me, to see my daily life and to understand why I love Uganda so much.

Eliminating the transmission of HIV from pregnant mothers to children is no small task in a region where HIV/AIDS prevails at a high rate of 6.3%. But that is Beatrice’s ambition for Aboke.

As the midwife in charge of the maternity ward at the Aboke Health Centre, Anna has the potential to make a dramatic impact on HIV prevention. When asked how HIV/AIDS has affected Aboke, Beatrice tells us mother to child transmission is particularly problematic, since breastfeeding mothers will unknowingly pass the disease to their children, continuing the cycle of HIV/AIDS. As a result, Beatrice has initiated a treatment program for infected mothers and pregnant women. But it is not always an issue of infrastructure - in a rural community like Aboke, Beatrice must draw the community in for testing and treatment.

By supporting vulnerable youth, CAP/AIDS was able to assist Beatrice in her mission. Through our HIV Prevention program, these adolescents were provided with training on how to generate income, as well as education on HIV/AIDS. By breaking down the stigma associated with the disease, the choice to obtain testing and treatment becomes much clearer. As a result, Beatrice says ‘they requested me to go and test all of them. I was very pleased with them.’ These activities serve to better the lives of individuals, but also build trust and support as a community.

We are nearing the end of our six months here in Kampala and we made our final field visit to Lira last week.  The official objectives of this visit were to implement a financial training workshop and to begin the implementation of an empowerment project designed by Veronica and I.  However, this trip also represented the first of many goodbyes as we prepare to leave. 

We were happy to be back in the village with our friends at Aboke HIV/AIDS Women’s Association.  The first day in the village we facilitated a financial management workshop for the members of AHWA.  For this workshop we brought along our finance officer from Kampala, Mary.  It had been a few years since she’d been upcountry and the group was very happy to see her.  She co-facilitated the workshop with our field team leader, Simon.  Our program officer, Tracy also came along for the trip.  The workshop was well received and the group learned how to manage their finances more effectively and how to keep things accountable. 

The following day we traveled around the sub-county to interview beneficiaries for a small project.  Veronica and I fundraised some money from our family and friends, and designed a project to put the money to good use.  Our project, “Empower a woman: educate a generation of AIDS affected children” aims to economically empower the caregivers of orphans so that their children can go to school.  The beneficiaries all have a small business, though many of them are struggling.  With the little money we raised, we are investing the money in these small businesses to increase the income of these caregivers so they can afford to educate all the children they support.   We spent the whole day talking with the beneficiaries and it was very rewarding.  We listened to stories from people who had lost many loved ones, but who were still struggling for something better, to put the younger children through school. 

AHWA is a community-based organization that is driven by concern and compassion for community.  When we approached the members about wanting to use this money to ensure that disadvantaged children had the opportunity to go to school through empowering their caregivers, they already knew who in their community needed this help the most.  They know their neighbours and they take an active interest in their wellbeing.  For development organizations like CAP/AIDS, groups like AHWA are invaluable to reaching the right people in a community.   

At the end of the day, we had to leave Aboke.  It was an emotional departure because the people within AHWA mean so much to us now.  Both Veronica and I have been so touched by the hospitality they have extended to us and the passion with which they care for their community.  We are very lucky to have worked with them. 

The rest of the team went back to Kampala, while I made my way to Gulu.  In my hand, I had a DVD of our World AIDS Day videos to deliver to one of our partners, Two Jonyo Peyero.  Their members helped us with the video and we wanted them to have a copy.  The video takes questions from Canada about HIV/AIDS and answers from Uganda and Tanzania.  To see the videos visit the CAP/AIDS Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdsUzppgSfFYDmQtTYUlwCQ.  Almost all of the members of Two Jonyo Peyero are in our promo “Zero” video which highlights the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day, “Getting to Zero”.

I ended up missing the last bus on Thursday afternoon so I stayed in Gulu for an extra day.  I spent the day with a friend who I had met over Christmas while hiking in the Rwenzori Mountains.  We headed out to the villages for an afternoon football game with a bunch of kids.  It was a wonderful way to spend my last day in Northern Uganda. 

The Aboke Youth Drama Group (AYDG) has existed since 2007 and is comprised of group of driven and creative youth who believe “youth are very capable”. Together, they seek to sensitize the community on the dangers of HIV/AIDS, domestic and gender-based violence. 

Their actions are a response to the conflict that occurred in northern Uganda, where community and family stability was severely disrupted. The conflict exacerbated the rates of poverty and HIV in the region creating a demand for community groups with innovative solutions to step forward.  AYDG bases its efforts on ensuring regular HIV testing and positive living amongst people living with HIV/AIDS.

CAP/AIDS' partnership with AYDG began in 2009, when, through out Bike to CAP/AIDS initiative, we provided them with a fleet of bicycles in order to support their music, dance and drama activities. The bicycles helped members to balance their other daily responsibilities with making time to attend meetings and performances in the community. It also helped them to take their outreach further afield, reaching new audiences with HIV-prevention efforts.

Later, as youth beneficiaries from CAP/AIDS' Sustainable Livelihoods Project joined forces with AYDG, they also received a public address system and transportation to further support the dissemination of HIV awareness in the community.

AYDG believes that a combination of music, dance and drama is the most effective way to teach people about the dangers and effects of HIV/AIDS, while reducing stigma.  Their plays address HIV/AIDS issues that are very close to home for many people in the Aboke sub-county, such as monogamy, alcoholism and violence.

When CAP/AIDS interns visited Aboke in the Fall of 2013, they had a chance to meet with AYDG. Their spokesperson told them: "When we act it in a play, it is easy for somebody who has not even attended school to pick the message and understand what is being said.”

The last few weeks have probably been some of the best I’ve had since arriving in Arusha over 3 months ago! I spent the last week on a field visit to Nairobi, where I was visiting CAP/AIDS’ local partner, Kijiji cha Upendo (KCU), which means “Village of Love” in Swahili. KCU provides assistance to guardians and families who are caring for orphans and abandoned children in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum and one of the biggest slums in Africa.

Through KCU’s income generating support, guardians are able to improve their businesses by receiving small loans and business skills training. School fees are also paid for, thereby allowing for guardians to send all their children, orphans and biological, to school. And since many of the children have been affected and/or infected with HIV/AIDS, KCU also works to provide community education, counselling and support on child protection, HIV prevention, drug and substance abuse, among other topics.

Andrew Obara, KCU’s co-founder, was an excellent host, showing me around Kibera and arranging for me to meet with numerous guardian and children beneficiaries.

It was an amazing experience, to walk among the many, many people living in Kibera, through the muddy and garbage-lined streets, down narrow paths between corrugated metal and mud huts. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with the women beneficiaries, all whom operate their own small businesses selling vegetables and fruit on the side of the street, or with small shops and stands selling beauty products and toiletries. Everyone was so busy living!

For a more detailed read on life in Kibera, check out The Economist’s article from last year here: http://www.economist.com/news/christmas/21568592-day-economic-life-africas-biggest-shanty-town-boomtown-slum. Reading it might just challenge some of the preconceptions you might have about life in an African slum. Prior to visiting KCU in Nairobi, I had the absolute pleasure of spending the previous week on holiday in Zanzibar. With my sister, who had come to visit me from Edmonton, Alberta, we wandered through Stone Town’s narrow streets, seeping up the old Swahili culture of the ancient island city centre. And then, the beach! Gorgeous white sand, tranquil turquoise water and a clear azure sky! Just breath-taking.

It seems as though the last month here has simply flown by! It’s hard to believe it’s already the New Year. It was was first Christmas away from home and without any snow, so was a bit harder to get that holiday-feeling. But I’m definitely happy to be missing out on the freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions plaguing most of Western and Central Canada!

For the last few weeks, Veronica and I were working on a video project for World AIDS Day, which is December 1st.  Veronica came up with the idea of gathering questions from people in Canada about HIV/AIDS and filming East Africans answering the questions.  At the beginning of the month, we headed into the field with our cameras and our questions.  We talked to people around Gulu, Lira, and from different parts of Kampala.  Our colleague in Tanzania, Robin, also contributed answers from her field visits. The result was a short film that speaks honestly about the challenges and tragedies of HIV/AIDS but also speaks about the people living positively with HIV/AIDS and the hopes and dreams of people working on the front lines.

  We wanted to put a human face and human voice to a global problem which is so often described by statistics alone.  Not only does this video represent human faces but they are East African faces, they are people who struggle with HIV/AIDS everyday but whose voices are often overlooked in global or even national discussions. 

  In Canada our perceptions of AIDS and Africa is defined not only by overwhelming statistics but images of hopelessness and tragedy.  AIDS has become so synonymous with the continent of Africa that it has come to define Africa in some ways.  In Canada we do not hear many stories from Africa that are not characterized by war, famine or disease and as such these issues have unjustly come to define the continent and it’s people.  This is what Nigierian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls “the danger of a single story”.  The idea that a single story can be used to define an entire place or a people, taking away their diversity and agency at the same time (for more information on this idea watch Adichie’s Ted Talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html).   

  Connecting Canadians directly with East Africans through questions and answers is our small effort to provide the world with different stories of HIV/AIDS.  In our video you will meet Village Health Team workers who volunteer  their time to bring adequate health care to their communities.  You’ll meet HIV positive mothers who are living positively and supporting their friends and family to do the same.  You’ll meet dedicated NGO workers who work to provide people living with HIV/AIDS with the education and skills to earn a living.  These are just some of the people who make up the communities in East Africa who are affected by and living with HIV/AIDS.  This disease has had a powerful impact on communities in East Africa but it does not define them. 

  Our video is called “You asked, We answered: World AIDS Day Insights from East Africa”, and it aims to show Canadian audiences different stories of HIV/AIDS as well as introduce them to some of the issues related to the disease.  Personally, I was humbled by the experience of filming this video and putting it together, hearing about people’s hopes for the future as well as their struggles.