By Rtn. Hannington Sebuliba
Last Friday I got an
opportunity to pick Lab technicians from the AIDS Information Centre in Mengo
Kisenyi. My station happened to be
Kajjansi Health Centre III at Kawotto Hill commonly referred to as ‘ku Dispensary’.
I happened to work with the
overall co-ordinator of RAW activities
in Kajjansi Rtn. Apollo. It was such an experience. I found a number of young
men who were seated on forms waiting for a surgeon to undergo safe male
Circumcision. They were about twenty young men most of them school children
from the neighbouring villages. They
talked at length but you could see fear in theor eyes. As we were busy
organising our station for free HIV/AIDS Testing and Counselling, they all
looked to see what was going on.
President Peace second left introduces the guests to Rotarians of Kajjansi
When the nurse who was in charge of the men who were waiting to
undergo circumcision arrived, they all waited to hear the good news from her.
She told them that before they went in the theatre for that minor operation, it
was advisable to first test for HIV/AIDS. This made our work easy. They started
registering one by one, getting counselling, testing and finnaly getting their
results. One young man (names withheld) told me after he received the results
“am happy the results are negative, after circumcision, I will spend a year
without engaging in sex” he said.
Rotarians at Work (RAW) is an initiative organised by Rotarians for
Fighting AIDS Inc and sponsored among other organisations, the Coca Cola Africa
Foundation. Rotary Clubs in the District 9200 target young people to test for
HIV/AIDS and also get free counselling.
President Peace (Left) and Marion Bunch second left talk to Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors at Kajjansi Health Centre
I looked on for a while seeing young people getting counselling from AIDS
counsellors and nurses. I saw how these professionals laboured to take these
people through sensitive conversations that preceded the tests and the final
one when they announced the results to them in camera. You would see the
tension but all of them kept their cool.
Those who tested and wanted condoms were given some.
Rtn. Isma and Rtn. Rose try to convince a lady to go for HIV Testing at Kajjansi
I later on stood by the roadside and strated convincing whoever
passed by to get tested and know his/her status. Many of them accepted to go
for testing while some hestated. One young lady
from a nearby school who had innitially refused to gor for testing could
not hold her joy on seeing her results. “Am going to show these results to my
mum” she said on top of her voice as she left the health centre.
The exercise went on until the end of the day.
On the last day which was Saturday May 26, 2012. I was the first to
arrive at the health centre and waited for Rtn. Moses Ssessanga to bring the
Kits and Laboratory technicians. Later on Rtn. Rev. Grace brought the tent we
used for the exercise.
The place was a bee hive of activities that day, as there was a national
Mass Immunization Programme for Polio and Measles and at the other end of the
Dispensary, there was a security meeting.
Most of the parents who brought their children for immunization took
the opportunity to visit our tent for free HIV/AIDS testing and counselling. We
decided to stand in strategic locations to encourage parents and the youth to
test for HIV.
Rotarians pose for a photo with Marion Bunch during her visit to Kajjansi Health Centre last Saturday
One of our very own Rtn. Rev. Grace
who is an AIDS counsellor did a wonderful job of counselling the many
people who came in for testing.
President Peace, PE Enid, Rtn. Frank, Rtn. Juliet, Rtn. Isma, Rtn.
Rose, Rtn. Fr. Vianney and Rtn. SSS partcipated fully in this exercise.
When RFFA’s CEO, Marion Bunch arrived with her entourage led by
Country RAW Chair Rt. Rev. Sam, there was excitement from the people. We were
lucky to have hosted the team as they were shooting a documentary which is to
be aired worldwide.
At St. Magdalene Health Centre Lweza
Marion was happy with the way Kajjansi had organised the
exercise.
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