"True kindness comes from knowing what it feels like to be without." Ghandi
If Day 1 served as an introduction to Kawempe, day 2 really brought home the reality of care in the community and capacity building in practice. Heartbreaking, awe-inspiring, frustrating - it's hard to put the experience into words. Seeing - in reality - the images that have haunted TV screens in the UK and hearing impossible stories that you couldn't make up made us all take a step back and re-evaluate issues of humanity. The dignity with which the clients talked about their experiences and welcomed us into their homes amazed us all. Something that couldn't be doubted is the real impact Kawempe Home Care has made to these people's lives - their support - physically, emotionally and medically - has given new life to these people. And yes, there's a long way to go, but the impact to date is unquestionable.
Joyce - Joyce deserves a whole paragraph dedicated to her in this blog. What an incredible, loving woman. A woman who has used her own experiences of being HIV positive to turn around the lives of other sufferers in her community. A woman who has turned her home into a clinic to support her neighbours and her neighbours' neighbours. A woman who will work for Kawempe Home Care until she dies - a true inspiration.
Following our community visit we returned to Kawempe to work on our project plan, brainstorming options for developing a sustainable income stream for Kawempe through their Beads for Education programme. Simultaneously we developed and implemented our first communications workshop to help upskill the volunteers and clients. 23 people attended the workshop and although they were reluctant to answer questions and join in at the start, they warmed to our method of knowledge sharing by the end and the initial feedback was really positive!
So at the end of day 2 we sit down and reflect - reflect on today, reflect on tomorrow and reflect on how these experiences will stay with us and hopefully inform our behaviours. As we hope to make an impact on their lives, they are already making an impact on ours.
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