wfn.org | LWF FEATURE: Some Problems You Simply Can't Solve

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

FEATURE: Some Problems You Simply Can't Solve 
LWF Uganda Program Provides Vocational Training for AIDS Orphans

RAKAI, Uganda, 22 December 2003 (LWI) - 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 or-der to keep people from feeling lost." * (1,169
words)

(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."

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects

of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where
the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

*	*	*

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