For those who don't know Jamie and I have been volunteering at a clinic while in Uganda. Mondays are child immunization days, Tuesdays are prenatal days, and Wednesdays are HIV clinic days.
Here's an update on whats been happening there.
On Tuesday Jamie and I sat in on the first prenatal
clinic/check up for about 8 women. The nurses were explaining basic anatomy and
hygiene to the mothers in Luganda, but Jamie and I did follow along to some of
it (they used hand motions and slipped a little bit of English in there for us)
and it was amazing how much those women didn’t know about their own bodies. The
nurse turned to me and Jamie and asked if we knew the anatomy of our “lady
parts” because none of the pregnant mothers did. It struck me as remarkably
unfair, for they just were missing out on base level education that should be a
right for everybody. Not to mention how their ignorance has the potential to
harm their babies.
After the group talk the mothers went in to the exam room
separately where they got their blood pressure checked (and where the nurses taught
us how to use the machine. I think they enjoy laughing at our inexperience), a
tetanus shot (Jamie’s becoming a pro at giving shots), their baby was checked
out (they listen to the baby’s heart beat through a metal hollow
candlestick-looking thing), and are given the results of their HIV test.
That’s where it got dramatic. I was sitting behind the
nurse, while Jamie was beside one of the mothers. I looked at the sheet of
paper and was shocked to see that it showed a positive HIV result. I tried to
get Jamie’s attention to warn her, but she was focused on the nurse.
The nurse started by asking the mother if she was faithful
to her husband, then if the husband was faithful to her. The mother said she
was faithful, but couldn’t always know the actions of her husband. The nurse
then said that the results of the HIV test was positive… and the mother’s only
response was to whisper “oh my God.”
From there the nurse went on to explain how this is “a
normal life here in Uganda” and that it was not a life sentence, for the mother
or the baby. It was unfortunate that the mother had waited for almost 8 months
before going in to see a doctor, but if the right precautions are taken she
could live a normal life, and her baby would be just fine.
It was just super intense to sit there and see the
interaction, and to realize that we had just witnessed a life changing moment
that occurs all too frequently in Uganda (and in Africa on the whole).
Every Wednesday the clinic holds an HIV day where HIV
positive people come to get their medicine. It was good for me and Jamie to see
how many people really are dealing with HIV/AIDS here; how many people we pass
on the street everyday that we don’t know are sick. Uganda is doing well
comparatively to the rest of Africa, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an issue.
The whole AIDS situation here is too complex to be
understood complete in the short time we are here, but we are trying. It is
more complicated than just to tell everybody to have safe sex. Once I come to
understand it better I will pass on my knowledge, for I believe that this problem will not be solved until knowledge becomes a priority, for people on both sides of the Atlantic.
