Day 4: Jinja - TASO & Soft Power Health

It's Monday morning and we wake up for our breakfast of eggs, white bread, and pineapple.  Our breakfast conversation turns to concern as Jessica and Hanni recount their early morning experience.  Hanni woke up in the middle of night and found a man staring at them from their doorway.  Thankfully she had a small flashlight (torch, as they're called here) and scared him away.  A frightening reality and a good reason to remember to lock one's door.  We spoke with the management and they switched their rooms.  That, coupled with the cleanliness of the place, will most likely strike this from future study abroad lodging choices.

We pile in the van and head to our first stop, The Aids Support Organization (TASO).

TASO is the largest indigenous NGO providing HIV/AIDs services, not only in Uganda, but throughout all of Africa.  They provide counseling, testing, medical care, outreach clinics, day care, social support, sensitization, nutritional education, and much more.  By employing a bottom-up program design, they ensure that they are providing the best services for their community.  Client representatives are also given guaranteed seats at all levels of governance, guaranteeing equal opportunities in staff recruitment as well as program implementation.

After our initial company briefing, we split into groups to shadow various departments for 30 minutes.  Bradford and I visited the child care center and sat in on parent/child and child counseling sessions.  This was a great experience and an opportunity to see TASO do what it does best.

Bradford with a child in the child care & counseling center.

Once we were through with our shadowing opportunities, we headed back to the main office for debriefing.  Once there, they assembled their community outreach group.  This is a group comprised of clients that are already "out" in their community.  They travel within their catchment area and educate others on the importance of HIV/AIDs testing, awareness, and stigma via song and dance.  They performed one of their outreach songs and not one of us had a dry eye.  Especially once we found out that the group had just lost their choir director to this horrible disease and they had just returned from her funeral.  They showed such strength and pride.  This was definitely when I was first emotionally hit by the struggles and realities faced by this country and continent.

After TASO we headed to downtown Jinja for a coffee break and to look around their shops.

We found a really nice internet cafe that was owned by missionaries.  Unfortunately, Ellen's laptop contracted a virus here.  At least the coffee was good!

After a quick break our group returned to the van.  We attracted the attention of some local kids as we headed out.  This happens a lot to us bazungu. (white people, plural)

Soon we were on our way to Soft Power Health.  They have a health clinic that addresses a variety of issues but mainly focuses on malaria and family planning.  On the same lot as Soft Power was the Allan Stone Community Health Clinic which, in reality, seemed to provide better services than Soft Power.

They had gardens, utilized solar panels for a portion of their energy, used improved and innovative tools, and implemented many community programs for children.

Below is an improved cook stove, which uses less wood while heating a larger area.

This is the "tip-tap."  A simple design yet very useful in water usage and conservation.  Simply place your foot on the pedal and the bucket tips forward so you can wash your hands - with minimal water waste.

Bradford demonstrating the tip-tap

A few of the children's programs:

We wrapped up at Soft Power and the adjoining clinic and headed back to our guesthouse.

We finally arrive back at the Bridgeview Guesthouse to clean up and get ready for dinner.  Some stay in but Hanni, Jessica, Ellen and I head out for a walk around the area and to check out a local war memorial and cemetery.  

Once the four of us are done visiting the memorial we head down to our dinner spot early to grab a beer and watch some of the World Cup.

This is the restaurant and bar where we ate:

The River Nile!

Soon everyone else arrives and we head down to our table.  Sheila helped us reserve a great spot right on the banks of the Nile.  

Jessica and Sheila

Our buffet dinner arrives with nightfall.  Not only do we have the privilege of dining on the bank of the Nile River but we experience our first full course local Ugandan dinner.

The meal: Chapati, goat stew, grilled vegetables, irish potatoes with g-nut sauce, lettuce greens, maktoke, and a fruit salad for dessert.  We washed this all down with some local beer - Nile Special & Club.  Delicious!

Our activities for the day, TASO & Soft Power, plus an inspirational backdrop like the River Nile fed fantastic conversation and reflection.  This is definitely a memory that will last a lifetime.

We headed back to our guesthouse on foot, torches in hand, with bellies full and the feeling that we were truly starting to experience something that would change us.