Accordia Voices

Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS

Officially, three people make up the Greater Involvement of People Living with AIDS (GIPA) team at IDI: Caleb Twijukye, Benson Bahame, and Charles Kasumba. 

But the GIPA team takes a much more inclusive approach, as Caleb, Benson, and Charles include peer counselors, and the many Friends that visit the Resource Center, as integral parts of the team.  This philosophy of inclusivity is part of a growing understanding that everyone, including Friends themselves, has a role in the care and counseling of people living with HIV/AIDS. 

Caleb, Benson, and Charles know that when trying to impart advice on treatment or making healthy life choices to Friends, the most effective message comes from a peer, someone who understands the situation and can offer relevant advice.

“If someone has been living with the virus for many years, it’s for more powerful for them to provide care and advice to a fellow Friend,” Charles said.

For the GIPA team, the goal is to get Friends more involved in their own lives and the lives of their peers.  That means empowering them to take responsibility for the medical care they receive, and how they live their lives, both in and out of the clinic.  Benson, Director of the Resource Center, explained that games are offered to increase sportsmanship and cooperation, Friends can take classes in entrepreneurship and business acumen, spiritual support is given, and there are opportunities to participate in the music, dance, and drama group.

Giving Friends options provides a stake in their own well-being, allowing them to directly impact their lives and the lives of those around them.  Caleb, Benson, and Charles work hard to make sure that Friends know that other people are counting on them, and looking up to them.

“We want them to be living as role models,” Charles said.

The Resource Center and the GIPA program as a whole have had a tremendously positive effect on the Friends that take advantage of the programs offered.  In the second quarter of 2010, 1,840 Friends visited the resource center, 914 used the laptop computers available, 62,542 condoms were given out, 360 mosquito bed nets were distributed, and eight music, dance and drama performances were shown.

“The resource center has spread like wildfire, and the effect on the friends has been very positive,” Caleb said.  “They are more willing to help their peers, and this lessens the burden on the staff.  In many ways, the resource center directly improves the health of the patients.”

While the GIPA team grows by the day as more Friends visit the Resource Center, the two-year old program could not exist without the determination and teamwork displayed by Caleb, Charles, and Benson.  They run every idea by each other, and agree that the close-knit nature of their team has allowed for the GIPA programs stunning success so far.

“We respect each other and seek information from one another,” Caleb said.  “We all have the passion for improving the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.”

Caleb, Charles, and Benson have big plans for the future, and with the help of their peer counselors and other Friends, hope to expand the GIPA program in a major way.  Plans are underway to create a Friends’ Council and Resource Center at every IDI outreach center in Uganda.  The staff also hopes to create a social support office and add more paid faculty to the GIPA team. 

As the team grows and expands its responsibility, it will be crucial to maintain the positive communication and cooperation that has characterized the GIPA staff to date.

“It is teams that achieve,” Caleb said.  “If you have individualism taking root, you have nothing.  I’m proud we are a team.  All of what we have been able to accomplish is because of teamwork.”

By Ross Weingarten