Thursday Bundibugyo celebrated World AIDS Day (Dec 1), better late than never. The festivities were held at Nyahuka Health Center, so though it would have been the first day in weeks without a major event (other than the usual team meeting) planned, the breath we hoped to catch was swallowed up in the all-day affair. Most of it was fairly predictable, the speeches, the songs. Scott was asked to speak as the NGO representative, and emphasized this year’s theme of Leadership by honoring our health center staff who show leadership in working hard to care for HIV positive people, and then calling on members of the community to show leadership in their families by seeking counseling and testing, by coming for treatment, by speaking out against stigmatization, by boldly modeling and teaching faithfulness in marriage to their children. The primary school who sang avoided the usual “we welcome you our visitors” cheery chant, and instead sang a lament in a minor key, decrying abuse. It was quite haunting. And for the first time, a group calling themselves “Bubandi People Living with AIDS” performed. About two dozen of our AIDS patients formed the group! The public nature of this event and their willingness to identify themselves as people living with AIDS was a huge step towards openness. Their leader was the mother of our little patient Dixon who died a couple of years ago, a woman with no remaining living children, who continues to struggle on.
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