Ssentongo: The lioness in the battle against HIV/AIDS

Ssentongo shares a light moment with one of the grannies. Photos by  Pascal Luttabi

Like wasted banana stems, people would slowly and painfully succumb to a then unknown disease that was ravaging Rakai district at the time. With graves littered allover homesteads, the message was clear; the monster was divulging all life in its way.

One woman, however, could not stand it any longer. Robinah Ssentongo, the Woman Member of Parliament for the newly created Kyotera district had watched helplessly all three of her brothers painfully succumb to what was later diagnosed as HIV/AIDS.   

"I had not been able to save my brothers but when an opportunity came through Kitovu Mobile, I did not hesitate. I had to stand up for my community.

One of the grandmothers at her home that was built by Kitovu Mobile

"The misconceptions were rife and getting close to a person suspected to have the disease was seen as a life sentence. Patients were being abandoned in houses and dead bodies thrown out in the banana plantations."

Some of the other beneficiaries

For the last 30 years, Ssentongo a trained nurse walked the deep villages of the greater Masaka (currently eight districts) reaching out to the families struggling under the weight of HIV/AIDS.  

Ssentongo distributing food items to the grandmothers

The interventions that she has developed through her organisation, Kitovu Mobile, have not only transformed the face of HIV/AIDS in the region but given people the resolve to fight it.

The grandmothers' initiative has helped in giving a second chance to the huge number of orphans. They now have parents in their grandmothers.

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