Written by Vocational Education Training student – Tushabe Jane
- Tushabe Jane
During my initiation into the BeadforLife program, I was encouraged to give back to the community. I thought perhaps I was expected to donate money to people less privileged than myself, I was pleasantly surprised on the 4th of August 2010 when I visited a home health care service as part of the ‘community give back’ experience, that it was not just about donating money – I got the opportunity to apply my time and skills to make a meaningful difference in someone else’s life.
On the morning of the 4th of August, we, myself and other youth members of BeadforLife’s Vocational Education Training (VET) program, boarded a van from the BeadforLife offices to Kawempe Home Care, a health centre that treats people living with HIV/AIDS. We were quickly trained, and our goal was to encourage people living with HIV/AIDS to take their medications on time every day.
We were teamed up in groups of two, myself and Aisha, also a BeadforLife VET member, were assigned to a family in Kyebando, a suburb in Kampala where 10 year old Dan lived with his mother. Dan who had been constantly ill, came to the attention of his school principal who encouraged his grandmother to take him for counseling and HIV/AIDS testing. When he got the test results back, he learned he was positive.
After visiting the health centre, Dan’s life changed dramatically. His hair which had been peeling off his scalp grew back, although not before his loss of hair had became the object of teasing at school.
However credit must be accorded to his 72 year old Jajja( grandmother) who has taken care of him. She informed us that he was all she had after most of her family had died from HIV/AIDS.
In their 2 roomed house, Jajja makes sure Dan takes his medication as prescribed and has all his meals. Dan who is a humble, well behaved boy, informed us that his dream was to own a nice comfortable bed. I was excited and touched when BeadforLife agreed to donated a new mattress and a mosquito net.
This experience was very emotional. The beauty of it all is – the smiles we left at that humble home. Thank you BeadforLife for this experience.
Tags: Add new tag, Africa, BeadforLife, Empowering Women, HIV/AIDS, Poverty Eradication, Uganda, Vocational Training, Women Making A Difference