The desire to do a little more…

loyce

The Other Voice

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Tags:

• 2011 VOF Week 2
• HIV and AIDS
• women

Working with grassroots women especially those living with HIV and AIDS in post conflict and fishing communities in Uganda made me connect with the realities and violations they go through on a daily basis. I decided to blog about their experiences, struggles and resilience so that the world can know.The women face various forms of violations on a daily basis which include; stigmatization and isolation because they are infected with HIV and AIDS, widow in-heritance and property grabbing, loss of marital rights including matrimonial homes, denial to access to treatment since they are considered to be dead and useless as well as verbal abuse.

Evelyn’s story is not different from the many women in these communities and no body is willing to listen to their concerns. The good news is that now the world is listening and some day they situation will change. Another funny and painful story is about a woman living with HIV and AIDS. She went to a health centre for medical services and was given packet of condoms to take home. She was told to keep them in a cool dry place and when she reached at home, the only cool dry place she could find inside her grass thatched hut was on the rooftop. Later, when her husband came back, he noticed something strange on the roof. The man reached up and found a packet of condoms. He immediately started beating her, accusing her of promiscuity. This is one of the many challenges women face and their experiences can hardly be known so that some thing can be done.

My journey to the Pulse wire community was as a result of the passion and the desire to contribute towards transformation of a woman’s life. As I was searching for information on women on the internet I came a cross the world pulse website I immediately fell in love with it. I found a women’s home of information and knowledge where all women’s issues are blown and put on the rooftop of the world for every one to see. This reminds of a story of an old woman who said that when she was growing up as a young girl, women used to look for a strategic location in the village which was usually an anthill. The woman would stand on top of it and start shouting “my husband is bad, she beats me when I give meat to the children, he is a glutton, he doesn’t want me to do this that and that….” So that everyone in the village can hear her. This would prompt the villagers to gossip about him, local musicians would compose songs about him and he would feel ashamed and eventually change.

Today, technology has provided us with much more advanced platforms compared to an anthill where we can make noise and shout so that the whole world can hear and listen to our voices us.