By Kelly Child, UVP's Managing Director. Kelly joined Uganda Village Project in June 2015.
The first few weeks in a new position are always a little
scattered as you acclimate to your new duties and organizational culture. Add
the bustle from receiving and placing 40 national and international interns in
rural villages in Uganda and the days fly by like a whirlwind. This post was
written this summer, and as we’re preparing for the next round of HIV
outreaches, it seemed like a good time to revisit it.
Each intern team in villages joining the Healthy Villages
program held an HIV outreach where UVP helps to coordinate supplies and health
workers to provide testing, counseling, and treatment options for HIV and
malaria along with immunizations for children. The first two events were
great—a large community turnout and the interns had a great time mobilizing the
community and executed entertaining sensitizations and answering questions like
the bosses they are.
Buwoira’s HIV outreach resonated with me the most. While
driving through the lush, green village, Titus, our HIV Program Manager, grabs
the megaphone and starts encouraging villagers to attend the event out the car
window. We arrive at the event site and it is clear the interns have been busy this
morning as all the event stations are set up: registration, HIV and malaria
testing, counseling area, immunization table, etc. 
As the event slowly gets
started, Ainslee and Fiona, two members of the Buwoira intern team, leave the
event in search of the neighborhood children, the kids who occupy, play, and
giggle on the veranda of the interns’ village house. They return with 15
children in tow intending to get them all tested for malaria and immunized. We
came to find out that 14 of the 15 children tested positive for malaria. At
events like this, our partners supply medication for treatment of malaria along
with testing kits for HIV and malaria. Because of our event in the village, all
14 kids were able to receive treatment.
Sometimes I get caught up in trying to Sometimes I get caught up in trying to learn Lusoga (Wasuze
otya eyo? Bulungi!), financial spreadsheets, and sweating (a lot).
I’m reminded of the importance of our work in moments like this one in Buwoira
and am so grateful for this opportunity. Thank you to all of our 2015 interns!
We’ll be thinking of you as we hold HIV outreach days in other Healthy Villages this month.
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