Solving Illiteracy, HIV, and Malnutrition Problems in One Go

Illiteracy. HIV. Malnutrition.

Three huge problems in Uganda. Wouldn't it be great if you could solve all problems in one easy to run program? The staff at Meaningful Volunteer think they have come up with a solution.

The Three Problems

• Illiteracy
  Illiteracy rates are huge in Sironko (Meaningful Volunteer's target area in Uganda). Many people are denied even the chance to attend school and face an ever-increasing English language dominated world without this vital skill. We are about the conduct some literacy tests around the region to find out the true extent of the problem.
  
  Those who perform poorly on the literacy test will be invited to join the program.

• Nutrition
  Yesterday I visited a wonderful old lady who lived in a mud shack. Her husband had passed away many years ago and she had lost her only child when he was young. She is lucky to eat a meal a day. Sometimes she doesn't eat for days on end and shakes uncontrollably.
  
  She was ashamed that she had no food to give us and at one point set off to get some firewood to cook something with. We had to ask her to sit down again and we got some simple supplies for her from a nearby shop
  
  
• HIV
  Everyone knows how bad that HIV problem is in Africa. Meaningful Volunteer is about to conduct a census survey to try and get a handle of the size of the problem in Sironko.
  
  One obvious solution is to get the ARV medication into the hands of the sufferers. The ARVs need to be taken after eating. If you're not eating regularly, then it is pointless to be taking the ARVs.

The Solution
Illiteracy rates are high. Nutrition is poor. And HIV sufferers can't take their ARVs because they are not eating regular meals. Hmmm... How could we address these problems in one easy to run program?

The staff at Meaningful Volunteer have come up with a solution: Run a literacy program, and provide ARV medicine to take with the meals! Three nasty problems solved at once!

How to Fund It

A simple meal here costs 500 shillings (about a U.S. quarter). ARVs are usually freely available from the local clinic. Taking paper and other resources into account, we can run a literacy program (with ARVs and food of course) for about $US10 a month per lady. This will include four hours of tuition a week plus a meal everyday. Each lady will take turns to prepare the meals for the day.

Meaningful Volunteer will conduct a pilot program with ten ladies. We will be having sponsorship opportunities so you can help a lady to solve her HIV, malnutrition and literacy issued all in one go.

Meaningfully Empowered

Way back in September 2008 (see the entry on my personal blog here) , I had an idea to start an online shop that would empower Ugandan women.

My search for something to sell led me to the village of Namukuma. Namukuma has no electricity and is a one hour car ride down a dirt road, followed by a half hour motorcycle road down something that might be generously called a goat track. I'd given my usual "What crafts do you have?" speech to the community. The lack of forthcoming crafts was frustrating enough for me to advance my ever receding hairline. I was almost ready to give up.

Then Alaisa Nandudu came along.

Alaisa had been up all night and making this seed bracelet. I was suitably impressed. Alaisa was living in a small house with her husband, four of her own kids, two HIV orphaned nephews, and a bunch of chickens. Alaisa and her family were eating maybe one meal a day. She had it rough.

One thing led to another and I eventually released GrassRootsUganda.com. One village I knew I had to go back to introduce GrassRootsUganda.com was Namukuma.

So, what happened next?

Well, firstly GrassRootsUganda.com has gone from strength to strength in my absence thanks to dedicated volunteers on the ground in Uganda.

Alaisa herself has made great progress. With a little extra help from a volunteer, and the money she has earned from GrassRootsUganda.com Alaisa has moved out her her one room "home", bought land and built a brand spanking new home. It's not quite finished. It needs doors, windows, a concrete floor, and a little work on the roof. Out back, Alaisa has a little farm that she uses for both for food and a cash crop. See here and here.

Here in Africa, one sometimes feels like bashing one's head against a wall with all the poverty and corruption and people seeming to be working for poverty. Then I remember Alaisa and I get up and try again.

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^* Just for interest's sake, here is Alasia's orginal biography from the GrassRootsUganda.com site.

Alaisa lives in a single room with her husband and three of their own children. Her sister and her brother-in-law both died of AIDS and Alaisa is looking after their two children as well. Her nephew is HIV positive - he is very prone to malaria and misses many days of school.

Her husband can sometimes get work digging the soil on other people's farm for ush1,000 ($US0.54) a day. He is happy to get ten days of work every month, but would like more.

Her husband is also a trained tailor. Alaisa often pleads with other tailors in the area to rent their sewing machines for ush5,000 ($US2.70) a month. They cannot afford to buy material to convert into clothes, so they can only perform simple repairs for between ush200 and ush300 ($US0.11 and $US0.16).

Alaisa use to own thirty chickens, but twelve died because she couldn't afford to feed them properly. One kilo of maize bran (chicken food) costs ush300 ($US0.11). The chickens sleep in the same one room apartment that Alaisa and her family live in because Alaisa fears they will get stolen again. They eat some of the eggs and sell some for ush100 ($US 0.05) per egg. She hopes to sell some of the chickens to raise school fees.

At the moment, they are managing to keep the children in school. They are paying ush15,000 ($US 8.18) per year for each of the children to go to school. Alaisa wishes she could send at least some of her children to a boarding school, but cannot afford the fees.

Malaria is a problem in Alaisa's home, much like everyone else's in her village of Namukama.

Alaisa can only afford to feed her family once per day. Sometimes they cannot afford to eat at all and they go hungry.

Alaisa walks a five kilometer round trip every day to fetch the five jerry cans of water her family needs. The water is unsafe for drinking and needs boiling.

She hopes that many Namukama necklaces are sold on GrassRootsUganda.com because she wants some capital to pay for school fees and uniforms. She would also use the money to rent a bigger home and purchase a sewing machine.

She wished that her husband could have a permanent job and the Namukama could get electricity one day.