Uganda Perspective

The Reality of AIDS Part 16: Behavior Change Continues

It is 2008 and changing the behavior of a population continues to be the primary too l applied by  Uganda in its battle to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.  For more than 20 years - nearly two generations of people here in this society- the message has remained the same - abstain from sex until married, be faithful to your spouse during marriage and use a condom if there is a chance you might become infected. 

The current campaign is directed at stopping the "Sugar Daddy" phenomenon where a college girl or young woman links up with a successful older man who takes her to restaurants and clubs and gives her stuff - clothes, a phone, air time, bling bling, in exchange for sex.   In her 2005 article, Helen Epstein relates: One of the women's dorms on Makerere campus has a reputation. "Go there some Saturday night," said a professor I knew. "That's when the men in their big cars come and pick up the girls and take them out. Sometimes you just see men sitting in front of the entrance, waiting. They call it ‘benching.'"

Epstein says she tried to find the phenomenon but did not.  Instead, she wandered over to where Pastor Martin Ssempa was playing to an overflow crowd at the University Swimming Pool - pushing abstinence as he does every Saturday night - driving the point home.

Billboards installed throughout the country in multiple languages are designed to both build the self-esteem of young women and also inflict a sense of shame on the Sugar Daddies themselves.  Check out these two examples seen in Kampala in December, 2008. Is it working?  Apparently so.  Interviews by Uganda TV talk show hosts with young women were full of revelation:  "I didn't know I had a choice about it but since I do, I choose to take care of myself," one said.  "I've seen a lot fewer old guys in cars on campus," said another.  There were no interviews with Sugar Daddies.

The Tragedy of Kikigate

Huddling on a dusty flood plain just across the Kagera River fromTanzania is a small community of Ugandan refugees.  They live in mud huts and scrape the earth for food.  Some have tiny 3x3-foot plots of maize.  The kids have open sores.  Everyone is sick and filthy; teenage boys and men who are able hitchhike out of the camp to look for work and, if successful, never return.  Except for building an 8-stall latrine, the government has ignored them.

“These people were not poor,” I was told. “They are some of the ones who fled Uganda under Idi  Amin. They were given land inTanzania. They built schools and churches and houses and businesses and were thriving.  But three years ago, when they supported the loser in a political contest, the winner took revenge by burning their town and chasing them back across the river.  They lost everything.”

I was in Kikigate because a young boy in the Juna Amagara Children’s Home was dropped off as an infant by a kind missionary and we only recently learned the boy had family in this place.  We brought him to meet his relatives.  We didn’t stay long.

Some 20 miles away is a large UN-run refugee camp called Nakivale.  That is where refugees from Western Congo fleeing from rebel violence are being taken, several thousand per month.  That is where the Doctors Without Borders and International Medical Teams go.  That is where UNHCR operates. That is where cholera broke out last month.  The government is getting good marks for providing sanctuary for people in need in Nakivale but by comparison, Kikigate seems forgotten.  It breaks your heart.

When in Mbarara, Stay at Quirky Riheka

I was a lone traveler coming at an inconvenient time.  What could my people do but book me into the Riheka Guest House in Mbarara where, for 25,000Uganda shillings (about $15.00) a night, I would have a clean bed with mosquito netting, reliable electricity, a promise of hot water and breakfast.  Over ten days off and on in three different rooms, the only hitch was the hot water.

The property is within walking distance of Main Street Mbarara, across the street from palatial new U.N. digs.  The grounds are well tended with gardens of flowers found only at the equator – enormous things with saturated color that probably eat small mammals.  Tables set on the lawn are served the same as tables in the dining room.  The building is falling apart, a shadow of some former splendor and – here again, staff people standing around, the owner Mama comfy in her office while paint peels and slats fall off and dust collects.  Don’t show me the kitchen. 

The second room I had would not yield hot water.  I asked Raymond, the Manager.  “Oh, I will turn it on.”  It never came on.  Next day:  “Oh, the problem you see is the switch for that tank is in another room and the guest must have turned it off.”  Well OK then.

Dinner was chicken and chips or Tender Beef (spelled Gender Beef on the menu) and rice with two cold bottles of Guinness – 7,000 shillings – approximately $4.00

Edson was my breakfast server.  The first day I congenially explained how I needed Nescafe with hot water first, then the Spanish omelet with toast and then the fruit, skip the tea and hot milk.  It took three days, but after that it was, “The usual, Mzee?”  A newspaper seller discovered I would be in my seat on the porch at approximately 8:00 a.m. and sold me New Vision through the open window.

There were few other guests at Riheka.  A crazy Kenyan computer consultant who ranted into his cell phone.  A medical student on exchange from Sweden.  A couple meeting on a tryst.  A team from UNHCR (Refugee Relief ) with a shiny vehicle; I coveted their truck.    The best part of Riheka?  When I go back, they will remember the Mzee.

Young Boy Finds Sanctuary from Abusive Caregivers

Last August, staff people at the Amagara Children’s Home in Mbarara were surprised to find a thin, frightened, ten year-old boy knocking at their door.  Ragged and bleeding and too shy to ask for sanctuary, Bernard was taken in, bathed, fed and given a bed for the night.  It didn’t take long for staff people to learn his parents had died and he was living with an aunt and uncle who resented everything about him. They beat him, kept him indoors in a dark room and tied him to the bed with wire around his wrists.  Somehow he heard about Juna Amagara and escaped, scaling the barbed wire fence, running to a place he believed would take care of him.

Ministry personnel investigated Bernard’s claims and found them to be true.  He is now in the program with a sponsor and legal complaints have been lodged against the aunt and uncle.  “Here is a boy whose parents have died, who needs extra comfort and nurturing,” said Juna Amagara Executive Director Ben Tumuheirwe.  “And what does he find from the auntie who should be the nurturer but abuse and torture.  It is a double trauma for the boy.”

Children’s Home staff report his assimilation has not been easy.  For several months, Bernard was shy and suspicious – he would throw stones at the other children.  “But the kids were patient with him,” said Harriet.  “I have even heard him singing.  He smiled the other day.  And when a gift of crayons arrived for him for Christmas, he was drawing, drawing, drawing everywhere.  He will be OK.”  This photo of Bernard was taken after he had a chance to show off the Children’s Home cow – which is about to give us a calf. 

The harsh reality is there are many situations like Bernard’s in Uganda.  A nationwide campaign has been launched to try to end violence against children but the problem will not go away soon.  We are thankful God told this one young boy that the  Amagara Children’s House could be a haven of comfort and safety if only he would have the courage to escape.