The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO)

Today, we spent our morning at The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) near Mulago Hospital. TASO, which was formed in 1987, aims to help Ugandans live positively with AIDS and provides services such as counseling, medical services, advocacy, and prevention operations for no cost.

Upon arriving to TASO, we split into two groups and toured the facility. We were very impressed by both the structure number of clients being served – an average of 200 per day! 

Clients Waiting to Be Served Outside TASO Mulago 

During the rest of our tour, we visited the counseling center, medical wing, and pharmacy. We finally ended up at the Children’s Care Centre, where HIV+ and HIV- children wait while their parents are treated. To see these kids interact was incredible  - as one staff member pointed out, we could not tell at first glance which kids had HIV and which did not. This just goes to show that stigma with HIV/AIDS has changed drastically over the past 30 years!

Inside the Children's Care Centre

For many of us, the highlight of our visit to TASO was interacting with the singing/dance troupe. These individuals are all HIV+ and receive services from TASO. Their group performs in villages across Uganda to provide education about HIV. The money the group earns from performing goes to fulfill their basic needs and to support TASO.

Performance Troupe at TASO

The final event of our visit was to hear the testimony of one young woman who has benefitted from TASO’s services. As she described, she became HIV+ after she was raped by a man who had promised to provide her school fees. When she told her employer she was HIV+, she was fired. With TASO’s help, she was able to join the performance group, and has since married a man who is also HIV+. The woman and her husband now have two children together, both of whom do not have HIV! It was amazing to hear how TASO benefits community members.

How do Reach Out Mbuya and The AIDS Support Organisation differ? Is one more effective than the other? What was your favorite part of our visit to TASO?

City Secondary School

Yesterday was a fantastic day in Uganda.  We visited a private boarding school named City Secondary School.  The education system in Uganda varies from the United States, so for clarification think of City Secondary as a combination of junior high and high school.  Everywhere we go in Uganda, we are treated with the uttermost respect and hospitality. This was no different today as we were greeted with traditional dancing and many warm welcomes.  Kasifa, one of the MUBS students, even joined in dancing the Rakaraka.  After the welcome, the head of teachers expressed the challenges City Secondary School faces.  Among one of their challenges is the lack of computers. This year, Drake donated 30 computers, which will tremendously improve the ratio from 1 computer to every 75 students to 1 computer to every 8 students.  This will contribute to City Secondary School's vision of teaching their students the skills they need to not only succeed in their job field, but to become the job creators Uganda needs. They were so grateful, and it really was wonderful to see the students already utilizing the additional computers. 

After the launching of the new computer lab, we split up into discussion groups and each went to a different classroom to interact with the students.  In my group's discussion we learned all about teeth, but eventually we drifted into conversations about future career aspirations, and Facebook (We were in a junior high/high school environment, what more can you expect?) 

I thought the way the desks were labeled looked really cool, so I made Augusta let me take an artsy picture.  (Thank you for modeling, Augs)

We were also given a tour of the grounds, which was really great to see, except I heard some people saw a snake-one that is not alive, just for learning purposes- in one of the rooms, so I missed out on pictures of that (thankfully). 

Finally, we were given the opportunity to interact with the students through sports.  Many students began by playing volleyball, but eventually a soccer match was formed.  This match was only for those who could endure the challenges of a field full of hidden mini swamps.  Needless to say, it was fun being a spectator as many students slipped and slided every other step.  Drake/MUBS was the victor after a nail biter shoot out.

Overall, it was a great day learning about the school, the students, and ourselves in the process.