Twice a month at a hospital in Ibanda, The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), a government agency, does health check-ups, counseling, and anti-retro viral support for HIV positive people in the area. When people know their HIV status they can get the services they need to treat the virus and can lead normal, healthy and productive lives. A lot of people don't come until they show signs of sickness, and by that time it's a much more difficult thing to manage.
My friend Jill and I went to the TASO outreach last week. There were well over 500 people there, waiting hours to see doctors, and they usually bring kids (especially HIV positive kids for their check-ups, too). Jill usually goes in the mornings for a few hours and brings paper and crayons to play with the kids.
Now, my local language isn't the greatest, and these kids didn't speak English, so communicating was on a humorously low level, limited to pictograms, funny faces, and noises. One girl who was about five took particular interest in me, staying next to me the entire time, helping me draw, and imitating my English (I finally got her say the color indigo).
The next day I was leaving Ibanda to head to Fort Portal for the weekend (a taxi ride of about 3 hours), waiting at the stage for a car to come, my thoughts devolving into creme brule and popcorn. I was jarred awake when this kid came up to me and gave me a hug, a giant smile on her face. I remembered it was the little girl from the previous day.
Unfortunately she didn't remember indigo, but she did make me smile.
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