PARRTTAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

I had the privilege to spend a week in the Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre the week before last, helping with various jobs around the clinic, learning more and more as the days passed. The centre is focussed on providing free health care and information to teenagers (between ages 10 and 24), the majority of which is related to HIV and STD testing, awareness and counselling. This centre is a huge success story for Uganda as it was the first of its kind focussed only on teens in East Africa, and they help hundreds, if not thousands of anxious teens that flood through their doors every week. To manage this the staff are extremely well trained, very up to date with research and information related to their work, normally in the office from about 7am – 6pm, and are all EXTREMELY passionate about their work.
Over the course of my week there I got to work in several different areas with different people, as despite the many committed youth volunteers that do brilliant jobs, there is always more to be done in such a busy place, and so to ensure I learnt as much as possible, the staff made sure to share my time out around the centre. I spent time counting pills in the pharmacy (which made me feel important having access behind a counter I always feel is quite out of bounds at home!); registering patients (which is more difficult than it sounds when their English is very broken, my English can be reasonably broken by a Scottish accent and my Luganda is non-existent); putting patient’s data into computers; sorting flyers into boxes; sorting through and organising feedback data and working in the lab. I loved working in the lab, as I couldn’t have learnt any more if I tried, and I even got my blood type tested (it’s O negative in case anyone wants some). The lab in the centre is a very small room, with only a few pieces of equipment and two staff members (Polly and Julius) but it does the job perfectly. Having the lab in the clinic allows for them to test for syphilis, HIV, Typhoid, Malaria and blood type very quickly so the results can be given to the patient that day and further action taken. This is especially important with the HIV testing as it allows immediate counselling to be given about future steps to be taken by the patient.
I was confused as to why the huge majority of people coming to be tested were women (lots of whom were pregnant I’m sad to say) and after quizzing Julius and Polly I discovered the extent to which women can be vulnerable in a relationship with a man in this culture. Julius explained to me that although men tend to sleep around more, women are more at risk to contracting HIV as the man is generally the decision maker in relationships and so if he decides that he doesn’t want to wear a condom (regardless of promiscuity) then that is more than likely what will happen. This of course can often lead to pregnancy and sadly in some cases HIV. Ignorant and thinking I knew more than I did I started discussing the importance of education for women and how this can be so unavailable to women. I quickly was informed that in fact a high percentage of the women visiting the clinic are actually at University. However University here doesn’t seem to be all about showing off your bargain clothes and beans and toast like it is at home. On top of the fees that people tend to struggle to find, there seems to be a culture within the University that we seem to leave behind in high school in the West, where a person is judged by their material things and the people that seem to be struggling with money can become outcasts. This of course puts a huge pressure on the young people to find money somewhere, and so knowing this, older (often married) men can be found hanging around the university grounds inexplicitly offering to buy a girl pretty things in exchange for sex. The girls feeling under so much pressure can often see this as a quick fix, with the result possibly being fatal. All the way around the world I have been ranting on about education resulting in empowerment, I hadn’t realised before how essential it is that the education is completely specific and relevant for your audience if it is to have the desired effect. It is however nice to know that there are centres such as Naguru that young people feel so welcome and comfortable in, and that people are determinedly working to reach these vulnerable groups.
One of the main focuses of Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre is education spreading into communities and schools through “peer education”. This is the idea that by educating some of the youth in their rights in life and relationships, and building their confidence, they can be guided as to how to pass this information onto their peers around them, thus reaching a much wider population. The idea is sort of like a ripple effect of information, with the ripple starting with a core group at the centre to ensure the information being passed out is all correct and up to date. One way the centre is doing this is through the “Post Test Club” held every Saturday from 10am – 4pm. This is a day of information-giving through games and purposeful group activities that not only educate, but also improve confidence and knowledge of self. This club is open to anyone that has been for testing at the centre regardless of their result, and also to anyone else that may not have been tested yet, but would like to come along. I attended for the last 2 Saturdays and had a brilliant time working with the youth. I facilitated a session this Saturday for the girls promoting self confidence and self worth regardless of the world around us. This was really a great opportunity as the youth were very good at participating and some of the discussions we had were very interesting and also educational for me. The main theme I found myself coming back to again and again is that we need to be the change we want to see. It can be so easy to be swept up in the world and society around us, ignoring our own worth, rights and needs. This can also hugely influence the way we treat others, but there really comes a point we need to take responsibility for our own lives and actions and live the life we want to promote. After our many discussions, and writing our thoughts on the good and bad things about being a woman we had a short activity where we imagined all the negative things anyone had ever said to us, or that had ever happened to us travelling up our bodies, into our lungs and leaving us with one huge breath out. It is important we don’t carry all the negative thoughts others can create or cast onto us, as they will soon consume us and become our focus, which will of course negatively affect our actions.
After a good day on Saturday we had a brilliant day yesterday (Sunday) at my pre-birthday, birthday party at the children’s home. It was a really fun day with party food, party games, face painting, presents, party bags, balloons, birthday cake and of course a LOT of dancing (oh my word African women can dance! I at least tried to follow them, my hips attempting to click in and out in ways I had never attempted before!) The kids here are just so beautiful and it was such an honour to be involved in the making of some good, fun memories in their lives which already have too many bad memories. Laura had kindly arranged for a birthday cake for me, so I blushed my way through Happy Birthday and we all got to enjoy the cake. Rita Nkemba (founder of Dwelling Places) gave a quick speech after the cake which was really sweet as she was thanking us for our work with them (although I feel more like we should thank them for letting us come!) and they presented us both with beautiful wooden drums and a scarf each, which was so unexpected and so kind of them.
The night came to a lovely close thanks to the hard work of my wee mummy! After the guests had all left and the kids had started cleaning up I asked them to all come into the hall for one last thing. They gathered together staring up at me with smiling, sleepy faces covered in smudged face paints and looking utterly exhausted! I handed them a parcel with a message asking them to give my “friends” a nice home. They opened their present to find a puppet for each of them hand made by my mum. I wasn’t sure if they would be too childish for the older girls, but the whole group went absolutely nuts. They completely loved them and the hall was soon filled with giggles and screams. It was the most beautiful sight and the best part of my day by far was enjoying watching them. All of the children were thanking us for the party and the presents which was lovely, but I was close to tears when Shakira (one of the teenage girls) stopped me before leaving and simply said “Aunty Jenn, just thank-you for loving us”. I couldn’t appreciate my time with these children more, I am so sad to leave Dwelling Places, and I can only hope I will return one day.
Jenn xxx