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July 06, 2006
TASO Mbale - community outreach
5 July 2006. Today we went out into the field. After a couple of hours of waiting and chatting and getting to know one another, we hopped aboard the taso land cruiser. We set off for Buseta, the furthest community served by taso mbale. It was a long bumpy ride. We arrived around 11am at the town center. We saw about a hundred people gathered around the massive tree and tent. As we came closer, we noticed that most of the people were waiting in very straight lines. Some were lined up behind a man in a chair with a scale at his feet, but most of the people were in line by the tent, awaiting food assistance.
Once a month taso mbale brings all of their services to the community – clients can get food assistance, medical care, arvs and other meds, counseling, even reflexology. It’s remarkable. And although everything is happening in the grass under big old wise trees, the system is very organized and extremely efficient.
The food assistance is a joint effort between taso and usaid’s food for peace programme. To get the food assistance, individuals must be hiv positive. After learning their status and registering with taso, if they are positive, they are given id cards specifically for the food assistance. The food assistance is a large can of vegetable oil and some corn meal. All the oil cans and grain bags are marked USA. The food is usually the first stop for clients, then they proceed to the big old wise tree where they wait to meet with their counselor for a one-on-one session.
This taso community based initiative is managed primarily by the designated sub-county aids committees (SACs) and parish aids committees (PACs), which recruit, train, and manage the staff of ACWs (aids community workers); advocate; proposal write; seek funding in addition to taso funds; and hold regular meetings with taso mbale management.
Each of my TEACH team members was fascinated with this system of community based hiv aids care and support. They all want to copy taso in their own countries.
We then visited one of the ACYC youth project at the Nabumali high school. The students (many are children of TASO clients) use drama, music and poetry to promote awareness and understanding about HIV/AIDS.
Posted by kmf23 at July 6, 2006 09:37 AM
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Comments
Thank you for taking us on your journey through your blog. Sharon E. Milligan
Posted by: Sharon Milligan at July 12, 2006 06:34 AM
These pictures are fantastic, so much color and energy. I'm tickled that you are doing a blog, so we can follow your journey--both the physical one and the emotional one. I am so proud of what you are doing there, Kelly! I can't wait to hear about all the good work and service ahead. Keep posting!
Posted by: Meghan at July 6, 2006 05:37 PM