World AIDS Day 2021: Baylor-Uganda CRS

Baylor-Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate World AIDS Day. This year, Baylor-Uganda joined the Catholic Church with Buganda Kingdom in WAD celebrations which took place at Kiwamirembe Catholic Church, located along Entebbe Road. At the same time, Baylor-Uganda along with the National Social Security fund (NSSF) held cerebrations at the main office located in Mulago Hospital.

The national celebration centered on the theme "End Stigma, End AIDS, End Pandemics."

At Kiwamirembe, the church held special prayers from 1 December to 5 December 2021 with the main objectives as follows:

• Prayers for the end of HIV by 2030.
• Prayers for the children and young people living with HIV and their families.
• Prayers for all those caring for the young children living with HIV.
• Prayers for the souls of the departed due to HIV and their families.
• Prayers for everyone to continue to safeguard against HIV.

Each day from 1 December 2021, there were different programs and different priest to lead in prayers. On 1 December, the mass was led by Father Kabanda who is the caretaker/parish priest of the Kiwamirembe Catholic Church. He noted that the church is available for people who are living with HIV to comfort and offer protection to them because Jesus Christ never discriminated against any person coming to his church and therefore it’s their duty to do the same. John 15: 12-13 tells us to love each other as Jesus loved us.

Baylor-Uganda was the main lead presenter and teacher for 01 December 2021. Cissy Ssuuna, Community Educator from Baylor Uganda, thanked the church for inviting Baylor-Uganda to talk about the theme mentioned above and for the warm welcome. She talked about Baylor Uganda’s services which have expanded to different parts of the country.

Starting her talk, she reminded the congregation that there is no home in Uganda which has not experienced the effects of HIV. She therefore thanked the government of Uganda for its endless efforts in the fight against HIV.

While discussing HIV stigma, Cissy defined stigma as putting a mark of shame on a person with HIV and discussed effects of stigma and how it can be avoided. Since stigma affects adherence, she encouraged the congregation and people living with HIV to discuss promotion of U=U, PrEP, and PEP when one is exposed.

Lastly, she talked about ending pandemics which included HIV and COVID-19. She emphasized COVID-19 prevention and the importance of vaccination for every person 18 years and above to enable the world to end pandemics.

Colline and Divine, on behalf of the CAB, shared their role and thanked Baylor-Uganda to accept a church invitation on WAD. This means a lot to the community since Baylor-Uganda serves different communities who include church people.

They encouraged young people and the congregation to know their HIV status, and follow the proven prevention methods especially ABC, PrEP, PEP, as well as fighting stigma as a way to end the pandemics. This was accompanied by testimonies from young people living with HIV.

The last day of the celebration on 5 December 2021 was led by Rev. Fr Musajjaakaawa, who talked about the importance of removing the cloth of sadness and replacing it by wearing Jesus Christ in our hearts . He mentioned that the world is faced with very many difficulties, uncertainties and challenges which have not been addressed, yet these were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. He, however, noted that despite these challenges, God comes with a message of Hope. God is not there to abandon us. He therefore asked the congregation to have a minute of silence to talk to God and ask for His forgiveness by telling God the truth which others are unable to see or know. He concluded by praying for members to be relieved of the burdens they are carrying and replace them with wearing Jesus Christ that is filled with love, joy and hope.

Mr Kintu John, who was appointed by Kabaka of Buganda kingdom to be at the forefront of fighting HIV /AIDS in Buganda Region, is the head of the Kiwamirembe youth foundation who caters for 320 young children living with HIV. John noted that stigma has risen and asked one of the young people to share his experience on how he was stigmatized by a mother who hid her two children to stop them from speaking to him because he has HIV. This was a very saddening moment because he is also like other children, and he also has dreams and aspirations like other children do.

The event was crowned with taking pictures and sharing more experiences with encouraging words to the youth.