December 22, 2003

RAKAI, Uganda - Daily at 6.00 a. m, Prudentio Sseguya (14) wakes up his brothers Leonhard (12) and Anatoli (10). For an hour and a half, they work in their garden and then do the household chores before going to school. The two younger brothers attend the nearby primary school, while Prudentio is a student at the secondary school. John Bosco, their 18-year-old brother is a masonry apprentice. His day begins much earlier.

The four brothers live in Kaliro, a village in Rakai District, southern Uganda. Their father died in 1997, and their mother last year - both from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Since then, the older brothers have been caring for the younger ones. The Sseguya household is one of thousands of Uganda's "child-headed households."

Over 70 percent of Rakai's households earn less than Uganda's minimum wage averaging some three Euros per week. It was in this district that the country's first HIV/AIDS cases were discovered in 1982, and even today, the HIV infection rate among 15 to 49-year-olds is, at 9.2 percent, significantly higher than the national average of 6.2 percent.

HIV/AIDS Testing Is Provided Free,
But Many Families Cannot Afford Travel Costs to Centers

The East African country has often been cited as a positive example in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Thanks to collaboration in consistent awareness-raising and care that was begun at an early stage between the government, churches, local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some of the United Nations' agencies, the infection rate has been significantly reduced over the past few years from 30 percent in 1992 to the current level.

Even though the successes are undeniable, the figures are considerably optimistic: children and adolescents are normally tested only when they exhibit symptoms of AIDS-related dis-eases. Under 15-year-olds comprise about 50 percent of Uganda's 24.6 million population. For adults, voluntary testing, although provided free at special health centers, can be considerably expensive. One requires three tests, and in many cases, the related travel costs often take up more than a family's entire monthly income. Few families can afford that, and for those who do, a great number have no means to pay for the recommended medicine.

The Ugandan government has mainstreamed HIV/AIDS in the national budget. Its Poverty Eradication Action Plan maps out strategies that are aimed at increasing the capacity of local authorities including local NGOs and community-based organizations to deal with the pandemic and prioritize the orphan crisis. For many of the thousands of HIV/AIDS orphans, there is no direct state-sponsored assistance, so the only option is for those affected to take their own initiative.

The Sseguya brothers belong to the Kaliro AIDS self-help group, founded in August 2000 by some of the approximately 100 village residents. Bosco is the group's secretary. When it be-came clear to those affected by the pandemic that they could no longer run their small farms alone or afford paid farm worker from outside the village, they decided to work their fields together and seek ways to secure an income. Assistance came from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) country program, operating in Uganda since 1979 and in Rakai District since 1992.

The program staff advised the villagers to integrate the cultivation of bananas, yams, cassavas, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans and medicinal plants. The group members then dedicated a quarter of their shared one-hectare plot to cultivating passion fruits which are sold at the market for additional income. The nearby LWF training center loaned the group chickens, a goat and a cow, for which repayment involved passing on the first offspring to a different group. With the proceeds from the passion fruits, the group purchased two additional goats and a bull. Another level of collaboration involved the improvement of the group's water supply system. LWF/DWS provided the building materials and tools while group members assisted with the construction.

The four brothers' house was also repaired in this way. Leonard spoke of his "wish someday to be able to build a large, permanent house." His goal is to be accepted to the LWF vocational training center (Rakai Community-based AIDS Project - RACOBAP) in Lyantonde county for training in masonry. His brother Prudentio wants to become a carpenter.

Almost 70 young people, all of whom are AIDS orphans or whose parents are in the later stages of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, will be trained in a two-year course in masonry, carpentry, motorcycle and bicycle repair, sewing, homemaking or agriculture. In the first three months, they are exposed to all the areas and later specialize in one. The end of the two-year course means examinations, but also the receipt of start-up funds to begin individual businesses. Basic materials for a mason or tailor cost approximately 150,000 Ugandan shillings, (EUR 75), and start-up funds for a carpenter or motorcycle mechanic are about twice as much. In the first few years, the center's instructors continue to give advice to the young people. The start-up funds are paid back in small amounts and are used to support incoming students.

The course is in high demand, and every year young people are turned away because of the institution's limited capacity. But even for the lucky ones, there are major obstacles. Fifteen-year-old Rose Kyogabirwe's home is a considerable distance from the center. Luckily, members of the AIDS self-help group in her village look after her younger siblings so that she can reside at the center during the week.

After her parents died from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses in 2000, Rose, then 12 years old, assumed responsibility for the two younger children. At first they survived on the little income they got from selling food grown in their garden, and continued going to school. An LWF AIDS counselor learned about the family and the DWS Uganda program intervened. The children's house, by then completely run down, was repaired, and they received assistance for food. Rose graduated from primary school at the beginning of 2003. "Unfortunately, I wasn't good enough to go to high school, but luckily I was accepted at the LWF center!" where she has been pursuing a tailoring course since June. During, the week, Rose together with 24 other young people residing at the center, tends crops grown in the garden, some of which she can take to her family during the weekend. Her big dream? To become a dressmaker and earn enough money so that her brother can remain in school, and perhaps, one day, even join university.

There are over 340 HIV/AIDS volunteer counselors working for the RACOBAP project. Since they live directly in the villages and surrounding city districts, they understand most of the problems encountered by the AIDS orphans and they can often provide relief. "But some problems you simply can't solve," says 32-year-old Annet Twongirwe, who advises several counselors. "All you can do is listen and share the suffering. But that is also important, in order to keep people from feeling lost."

Lutheran World Information
By Regina Karasch, LWI Stuttgart (Germany)-based correspondent, during a recent visit to the LWF/DWS Uganda program.
This feature is part of the ongoing LWI "Healing Features" series under the LWF Tenth Assembly theme, "For the Healing of the World."