ONE Staff Africa Trip

I also got a note from ONE’s Katherine Jollon today who visited Tigers Club, a program that works with street children in Kampala, Uganda.

According to the Consortium for Street Children there are 10,000 street children in Uganda. “Underlying causes of children’s problems in Uganda include armed conflicts, diseases (HIV/AIDS), lack of education, inadequate services and entrenched poverty.”

From Katherine:

“Today was my favorite day yet – our last stop was to the Tigers Club project which works with street kids in Kampala, Uganda to leave street life behind and transition into a caring family environment. They engage the kids through football (American soccer), and through that experience teach and counsel them to get off the streets. The results are overwhelming – 87 percent of the kids transition back into family homes. What most amazed me was the kids themselves – their smart, quick humor, their courage to turn their lives around, and their energy. The children reminded us how and why we can help – that difference is made one child at a time and that these community-level programs change lives every day.

-Katherine Jollon”

Several members of ONE’s staff are traveling through Uganda and Rwanda this week. I just received an email from ONE’s Margaret McDonnell who met with beneficiaries of a Kampala, Uganda microfinance program today.

Before her email, a little background on microfinance:

Because it is often difficult to find paying jobs in poor countries, many people earn a living by starting and operating their own small businesses. Examples of these types of businesses could be selling fruits or vegetables at a local market, or providing basic services such as sewing clothing. Often these small businesses can’t access credit or other financial services to grow and develop their business and provide for their family and community.

Microcredit and microfinance programs like these described below are especially important for women, who often don’t have access to financial resources in the way that men do in these countries. U.S. funding for microcredit/microfinance programs in recent years has been approximately $200 million annually.

And now Margaret’s post:

“This afternoon we met with Swabrah Scovia, who works with FINCA, the Foundation of International Community Assistance. She brought us to visit beneficiaries of one of their microfinance programs in the Naguru neighborhood in Kampala, Uganda.

The 12 women shared their stories about how the loans have helped them start or grow their own businesses, ranging from vegetable stalls to second-hand clothing shops. Loans start at the equivalent of 25 dollars and can grow to 5,000 dollars over time and with proven credit. The women have become very close and operate like a team, meeting bi-weekly to share their business plans, meet their financial commitments, and help each other through daily life challenges.

I will never forget the pride on the womens faces when they described being able to provide food for their families and to send their children to school.

- Margaret

Josh just emailed in these photos from TASO, an AIDS clinic in Kampala, Uganda.

Two are of people waiting in line for ARVS. The other is a doctor explaining how he tests people for HIV.

Visiting TASO

Today, ONE Staff visited “The AIDS Support Organization” (TASO) in Kampala, Uganda.

TASO was founded in 1987 and today is the largest indigenous NGO providing HIV/AIDS services in Uganda, Africa. The organization has 11 service centers, and 13 more “mini-TASOs,” throughout the country.

A note from Kimberly:

We just visited the good people at TASO Kampala. We were able to visit some of the people they provide treatment to in their homes.

The woman that Marjorie, Josh and I met with was diagnosed in 1999 but didn’t begin receiving ARV treatment until 2002. Because of the ARV treatment, she is healthy enough to work and care for her grandsons (she has 4) and support her son who just entered his first year of university.

She was very pleased we came to hear her story. She wanted us to convey her thanks to all of those people that make it possible for her to be on treatment.

Thank you for being one of those people.

-Kimberly Cadena

On Saturday a crew of ONE staff left for a week-long trip to Uganda and Rwanda. Several are sending in posts to the ONE Blog throughout the trip, so I’ll do my best to get them up a.s.a.p.

Below, updates from our own Josh Peck and Kimberly Cadena.

Saturday, 5:47 PM

We’re off.

We’re sitting in Dulles Airport waiting to board our flight to Uganda. Margaret (on the left) is emailing her family using Katherine’s phone because she dropped hers in the toilet.

We’re really excited, but we’ll see how that holds up as we make our 20 hour journey to Entebbe.

-Josh Peck

10:30 pm Sunday night

The ONE team has just landed in Entebbi, Uganda. After making it through customs, grabbing our bags and looking for the first lost item (Josh Peck is down a jacket), we boarded a bus and headed to our hotel.

It’s going to be an early night, because at 7:00 am tomorrow morning we’re heading to a TASO facility. We’ll meet with the staff, all HIV positive themselves, that are treating people in their community with the virus. We’ll also be joining them on some home visits in the afternoon.

We’ll check in again after the morning briefing to give you more details about the day ahead.

P.S. Our bus driver is wearing one of the first white ONE bands!

- Kimberly C adena