Two fishing communities

"The people in a number of the stories are of the kind that many writers have recently got in the habit of referring to as "the little people." I regard this phrase as patronizing and repulsive. There are no little people in this book. They are as big as you are, whoever you are." -Joseph Mitchell, 'McSorley's Wonderful Saloon'

The entrance of the little church in the Akampala landing site

After a night's rest in Kampala, Allen, David, Nema and I packed our bags and headed east to a town called Soroti, by the Uganda-Kenya border. Every morning, for the next four days, we drove an hour out to a nearby town called Kaberomaido to meet with the programming staff of PAG-Kaberomaido, a partner organization, and walk with them through the training of "Designing a Behavior Change Framework" as they started a new program.

PAG-Kaberomaido

The program being started is an HIV program for men in two nearby fishing communities (i.e. landing sites). In these landing sites, there is a prevelance of HIV due to the fishermen having numerous sexual partners. Often times, a woman will sleep with a fisherman in exchange for fish or money. The program will be designed to encourage fishermen to be faithful to one sexual partner in order to protect themselves and their partners from HIV infection. 

A focused group discussion with some fishermen

After talking with the men and hearing their stories, I realized just how strong of a hold our culture and surroundings have on us. In these landing sites, there is a culture of drinking and sleeping with numerous women without concern of safe sex. It was saddening to hear the misconceptions that they had about women and HIV. I am no better than these fishermen - we are all broken. When it comes to changing behavior, it is equally difficult for me and often requires sacrifices that I don't want to make. Just like it was emphasized in the training, these fishermen need to be empowered and transformed in order to truly let go of their old habits and change their behavior - not for the organization's benefit, not for the government's benefit, but for their own. 

The kids came to see what was going on

Data analysis after interviewing community members

Over the past two weeks, I have grown more familiar with and confident in the process of designing a behavior change framework. I've learnt more about HIV programs and the fears and misconceptions people have around this disease. I've loved the interaction with community members, the long car rides, the hours of data analysis, and the fact that there has been something new to learn everyday. It's been an absolute blessing to have the oppurtunity to work with such great people and be inspired by them. 

Nema couldn't help taking this photo: exhausted after a good day's work

A happy bunch after finishing the week of training