Luswata empowers HIV patients to live healthily

Oct 13, 2009

SHE rests her cheek in her right hand and leans on the table at an angle, staring around the room for minutes with a beam face. But the smile suddenly disappears as she narrates the incident that changed her life.

By Chris Kiwawulo

This year, to commemorate the World AIDS Day, December 1, The New Vision, in conjunction with the parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDs, will award individuals who have played a remarkable role in the fight against HIV in their communities. Profiles of the nominees from which winners of awards will be selected will be published till November.

SHE rests her cheek in her right hand and leans on the table at an angle, staring around the room for minutes with a beam face. But the smile suddenly disappears as she narrates the incident that changed her life.

Rachel Nakyejwe went to a World Vision HIV testing camp in Kyaggwe, Mukono district to get food for her family in 2002 but ended up getting nerve-wrecking news. After being encouraged to test for HIV/AIDS, the results came out positive.

Nakyejwe says she felt so empty, wished and hoped the results were false because she looked healthy and had no ailment. “I did not know what to tell my husband. I felt numb all over,” the soft-spoken woman in her early 50s says.

“I said to myself that if I really had HIV, then everybody had the virus,” Nakyejwe narrates. She was advised to take Septrin as the first line treatment. But because she was skeptical of the results, she went for more tests.

She joined her husband, Eliab Musisi Kibengo, who had shifted from Kyaggwe to Kitiko-Birongo village on Kigo road in Makindye to look for work.

Nakyejwe went to The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) centre in Entebbe and Mildmay Centre in 2004 for more tests which all came out positive. She continued taking septrin until 2007 when doctors at Mildmay Centre put her on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

As Nakyejwe commuted from her home to Mildmay, she learnt of a new organisation called He Intends Victory Uganda, which supports people and children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

The Christian-based organisation formed by Drake Luswata in 2006 had helped a number of people. The organisation based at Seguku, on Entebbe Road offers financial and psychological help at no cost, to people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

“We gather every Saturday at the organisation’s offices, sing, dance and share experiences as well as making handcrafts for a living. We counsel and encourage other people to test,” says Nakyejwe. The organisation also employs her as a cook for the orphanage that looks after and pays school fees for 17 orphans in Kitiko-Birongo.

Nakyejwe’s seven-year-old granddaughter, whose parents died of AIDS, is among the orphans the organisation is looking after. The children go to Day Spring Christian Academy near their orphanage on Kigo Road.

In Wakiso alone, the organisation has helped over 30,000 AIDS patients and children orphaned by the scourge. But the number reaches over 100,000 when you consider the people they counsel and support in Kamuli and Fort Portal districts.

Luswata says they have registered 342 families in Kamuli, most of them polygamous, with up to 30 members per family. “We have also registered 674 children orphaned by HIV/AIDS whom we intend to help. Some are infected while others are not,” explains Luswata, a father of seven.

Currently, an HIV organisation based in the US supports He Intends Victory Uganda’s activities. Luswata, 45, came up with the idea to set up an NGO in 2005 but only operationalised it in 2006.

A pastor at Grace Press Outreach Ministries International in Kitiko-Birongo, Luswata believes he can reach out to over 500,000 people in Wakiso, Kamuli and Fortportal in two years if he gets the required resources.

“One Sunday, I was preaching about the Church and HIV/AIDS and I touched several hearts among my believers. At the end of the service, three ladies came to me and confessed that they were HIV positive.

“I counseled them and advised them to take drugs. The three talked to their other colleagues and the number started swelling within a short time. From that day, I realised that many people were quietly dying from the disease in our churches,” he says. Luswata is disappointed with some pastors who lie to their followers that prayers can heal them without taking drugs. “This is why some people end up dying so soon,” he says.

Luswata says he formed the organisation to show care and love to those affected by HIV/AIDS. He says many people, especially in villages, still lack information concerning HIV/AIDS. Luswata hopes to penetrate the villages with sensitisation seminars about HIV/AIDS because they are neglected by most NGOs that tend to work within urban centres.

“We encourage couples to test and be faithful to one another. We also handle the youth,” Luswata points out. He feels he still has a challenge to ensure that HIV patients are economically empowered. When you empower HIV patients, he observes, they will be able to fend for themselves, gain self esteem and have a balanced diet all which prolong life.

He says HIV patients that he currently counsels feed poorly because they are not engaged in gainful employment. “This reduces their lifespan,” says Luswata.

Luswata was born an only child in Kitende, Wakiso district. His father, Luswata senior passed on but his mother Mrs. Luswata is still alive. He studied at Kitende primary school in Kajjansi, along Entebbe road.

He went to Wairaka College in Jinja and Katikamu SDA in Luwero for O’ and A’ level respectively. He then joined Bugema University from where he graduated with a bachelors degree in theology.

He thinks using the skills he acquired from school can enable him transform society in as far as the fight against HIV is concerned.

FACT FILE
NAME: Drake Luswata
Age: 45
LOCATION: Kitiko-Birongo in Makindye-Sabagabo sub-county, Wakiso district
Marital status: Married
Children: Seven
NGO: He Intends Victory (HIV) Uganda located at Kisugu behind Hared petrol station, six miles on Entebbe Road
Target/IMPACT: Reaching out to over 500,000 people in two years.
Education: Bachelors degree in Theology from Bugema.
CONTACT: 0772616262

Do you know anyone who has played an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS in their communities? Nominate the person, indicating name, phone contact and what the person has done in his/her community to help people PREVENT HIV infection. Also give your name and phone number. Write to: The Features Editor, New Vision, P.O. Box 9815, Kampala or email: features@newvision.co.ug

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