Doing

In another life I was a holy roller, in another lifetime I flew / I have always kept a distance, this is what I do / This is what I do for a living, this is what I do / This is what I do, this is what I do
-Rhett Miller


But, what is it that you DO?

It’s a hard question for any Peace Corps Volunteer to answer…saying that you help your organization “build capacity” doesn’t mean very much to most people.

So this is what I have been doing (actually doing!) lately:

I now work mostly with Villa Maria Hospital, which is a little ways down the road from where I stay. The hospital has great HIV/AIDS services; I spend most of my time working with Frank, an awesome counselor.

First, some background information:
The hospital’s catchment area (the area for which they provide services) is huge- it has an estimated population of 214,764 people. The hospital provides HIV treatment not only on its premises, but also in 8 smaller “satellite clinics”- local health centers that have partnered with the hospital so that the HIV-positive patients don’t have to travel so far to receive treatment. The hospital staff members pile in to a vehicle along with loads of paperwork and drugs and go out to each clinic on certain days of the month. The counselors and health workers also do regular community sensitizations and lessons on HIV-related health issues, driving kilometers upon kilometers down bumpy dirt roads to go see people out in their villages. The hospital has also trained an extensive network of local “Peer Health Educators” (HIV-positive people who serve as role models for getting tested and adhering to treatment) as well as “Community Health Workers” (people who are willing to educate their communities about HIV, encourage them to get tested, and provide them with psychosocial support once they do).

Recently, through the Peer Health Educators and Community Health Workers, the hospital has encouraged HIV-positive people to form community support groups within their villages. Most support groups were started in the latter part of last year, and many are still getting off the ground. The great majority of our clients are subsistence-level farmers, and while the medicine and care is given freely, things such as the cost of getting to the hospital can be a problem. Thus, one area of interest for the groups is “income generating activities”— sustainable ways for them to make income to support themselves and their families.

While the groups have viable project ideas, (pig rearing, goat rearing, community farms, etc) getting those ideas off the ground is another matter. The obstacle in most cases is funding; the group needs some seed money in order to be able to start anything. So, what am I doing? Right now, I’m trying to help them get funding.

Under the guidance of the hospital, the groups are going to apply for a grant. I helped the hospital find a grant to apply to, and, over the course of a few days, the counselors met to translate the grant application into Luganda. (NOT an easy task- try translating the following sentence: “Describe the shorter-term objectives of the project; objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.” Jeesh!)

The reason that we translated the application it is because we’re having each community group write their own proposal, which the hospital will then combine into one big proposal (in English) that encompasses everything. It’s a ton of extra work, but it will be a very good learning experience for each group. In some ways it’s frustrating, because I could do this by myself. I could ask each group their plan, type it all up in a way that would be appreciated by funding agencies, submit it, and their projects could be up and running in no time. But, the end result is not the whole point. (Actually, it probably is the whole point to the groups applying, but to me, the process of applying is just as important.) It’s so good for them to have to sit, think, discuss, argue, and really plan what they want to do. And, it’s good for me to be patient while they struggle to do that.

This past week we started handing out the translated application to all of the community groups, and last Friday, we had our first meeting with three of the groups, to help them start working on their applications! Everyone was very excited!

Oh! I didn’t mention the tent. So, being the awesome people that they are, what does the hospital staff do when their HIV/AIDS building is way too small for things like Peer Health Educator meetings and HIV education workshops? They set up a tent next to the building, that’s what! (Don’t you just love them!?) So, our Friday meeting was held in the tent:


One of the groups working on their project-
Tony, the guy waving, is one of my favorite Peer Health Educators! He lives in a village that’s only a 30 minute walk from where I stay- I’ve been to his house a few times. He and his wife have seven adorable little kids.

Proposal writing is a completely foreign concept to most people here, and the type of ongoing dialogue needed to thoroughly plan a project just doesn’t seem to take place very often. I was so excited to see them discussing their plans!

David (one of our really nice counselors) helping some Peer Health Educators with their proposal:

Frank (the wonderful counselor I work with) explaining things to another HIV support group:

There is only so much that I can help out with in Luganda, so at one point I took a break to hang out with the kids that are at the hospital getting treatment for HIV. This time I handed off my camera so that I could be in the picture too!
Sitting on the bench outside while they wait to go in!

Right now the hospital offers HIV treatment services to a lot of kids, but the kids pretty much get treated exactly like adults. We’re really busy with the community support group proposals, but Frank and I are currently brainstorming ways to treat the kids more like kids. They’re going to have to come to get drugs for the rest of their lives, but we don’t want the hospital to be a place that they dread. Something much more kid-friendly would be good…maybe a special day just for children's services? maybe a fun children’s center….? I’ll keep you posted!