A Series of Hardships Come to an End

by Loy Tumusiime, Program Coordinator

Her smile is comfortable and she looks beautiful in her flowered kitenge dress. Margret is happy to speak with me because she has good news to share: she’s healed.

Not long ago, Margret was not so positive and happy. Several years earlier, Margret’s husband passed away from AIDS. Knowing she was at risk, she went to test and learned that she was also positive. Because of the stigma surrounding HIV in her community, Margret lost her teaching job. She started working with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She sought treatment and received radiotherapy for eight months followed by a hysterectomy, but shortly after, Margret began to leak urine uncontrollably.  Margret lived in fear that someone at work would find the diapers she used to absorb the urine in her purse and shame her. Her coworkers began to complain of the smell, and as her condition worsened, it became more and more difficult to retain employment at TASO. She eventually left TASO and stayed with family members in the village, unable to provide for her family.

Loy, UVP's Fistula Coordinator, conducting intake
interviews at the recent camp in Kamuli.

One week at church, a woman confided in Margret that she had suffered the same ailment and was going to receive treatment at the upcoming camp in Kamuli. The woman put Margret in contact with Loy, UVP’s Reproductive Health Program Coordinator, and scheduled a meeting. After learning more about the treatment, Margret agreed to go to the camp. “When I reached the camp, I felt so hopeful, and when the surgeons confirmed that they will work on, I knew my lifespan had increased,” Margret recalls. And knowing that she would not have much help to provide for her family upon her return, Margret signed up to join the reintegration program to learn tailoring skills. The tailoring instructor tells us all the time that Margret is a very active and excited learner!

Margret has encountered several challenges in her life, yet remains positive and is grateful for the support she received from organizations like UVP along the way.

Margret’s story is being shared with her consent. You can provide life-changing treatment to women like Margret by supporting UVP’s fistula program. You can change a life today.

Facing a Difficult Truth

by Josephine Asio, Program Coordinator

The trading center is typically a bustling area with vendors selling dry goods like maize flour and dried beans to cold drinks and fresh foods like fish, beef, and vegetables. When I meet with Mary, the trading center is quiet; everyone is at the HIV outreach.

An HIV outreach in the village.

Mary is a VHT in Ituba B and has been working with UVP since the partnership in Ituba began in 2018. As a relative newlywed (she and her husband have been married for less than two years), she does not have any children. Mary’s husband works in Entebbe, a few hours from the village, so he is only home every couple of weeks. Due to her home life, Mary has ample time to spend educating community members on the various health programs supported by Ituba’s partnership with UVP. When UVP hosted the first HIV outreach, Mary was at the front lines encouraging people to come for testing and stay for education. She also took the opportunity to get herself tested, and in a rare moment, her husband was in the village and also decided to get tested.

She remembers the day vividly; she was wearing her best gomesi and bustling around the event directing people and ensuring the health care workers were tended to when her number was called to go for counseling to receive her results. She sat with the counselor from St. Mary’s under the nearby mango tree for some privacy and learned that she was HIV positive. At first she was devastated and fearful; what would her husband say? Would he think she was not faithful? Would he leave her?

With guidance from the counselor, Mary broke the news to her husband, who tested negative. The counselor told the couple that it was possible to remain in a happy marriage with one HIV positive partner, and began to discuss methods of prevention. “I was so happy he decided not to break the marriage,” Mary said, a smile spreading across her face as she remembered that moment under the mango tree.

Without the UVP outreach, Mary may have gone many more years not knowing her status and possibly infecting her husband, Because of this service, Mary and her husband can actively prevent the spread of HIV and share their story with their community to encourage them to test and work to combat stigma and misinformation.

Mary’s name has been changed to protect her privacy. You can support HIV testing for women like Mary by making a contribution today!