Whose promise??

16 January

        While slowly chomping on a fried brown doughnut during “break tea” of the HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Presentation, I desperately desired to chat with one facilitator. The Director of my internship chivalrously invited me and the head of the Health Department to join her for the full day training facilitated by the Ugandan Human Rights Commission (UHRC) at some swanky hotel in Gulu town. The purpose of the gathering was to converse on the proposed HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill of 2010. In brevity, the bill will circulate Parliament before President Museveni can officially declare it a law. The facilitators believed it vastly important to gather the civil society, police, local politicians, heads of NGOs, and the media to convene on the bill with hopes of sharing various recommendations to Parliament. No direct surprises that the UHRC chose to convene in Gulu, as its “official” infection percentage doubles the Ugandan national rate of six.
        Within thirty minutes of opening, the chief facilitator shared what he considered an amusing tale. “I have a friend in Kampala who is the Headmaster of a Primary School and he openly admits that the day his wife goes for an HIV test, is the day she never comes back. That would be it for her.” Small probes of laughter ensued from the general audience which included the well known District Police Commander (DPC) and the Resident District Commissioner of Gulu (RDC). Spellbinding thoughts emerged within my cognition.
        After “break tea” I noticed myself vigorously shaking my right leg and repeatedly pounding my blue bic pen up and down on my cherished black notebook. Was I anxious? And if so why? As the collective deconstructed the bill, I became educated on a law regarding the national military, Uganda’s People Defense Forces (UPDF). As one former member of the force contentedly and in agreement informed that it’s mandatory for UPDF to be HIV tested as a prerequisite to serve. If the results are positive, (s)he is inexorably disqualified. Although it wasn’t comical, this was my time to find amusement in the discussion. You see only moments earlier, I thoroughly read through section 31 of the bill that states, “A person shall not be denied access to any employment for which he or she is qualified; or transferred, denied promotion nor have his or her employment terminated on ground of his or her actual, perceived or suspected status.” Does the government’s military frankly assume that locals won’t notice their hegemonic domination? From my minor observations, I’d bet they sincerely and simply could care less.
        Not long after lunch, discourse swiveled around the effect of culture with regards to combating the steadily increasing HIV/AIDS rate of 12.4 % in northern Uganda. A major theme of the afternoon focused on whether the bill should include criminalizing those who willfully and purposely infect others, which is a continuous occurrence. I was quickly brought back to my Women and Social Policy course at Smith College last summer; the vast, passionate and eternal debate, “Cultural and human/women’s rights … when (if ever) is intervention necessary? And if so, whose intervention?” Isn’t culture constantly shifting and changing?
        Combating HIV/AIDS in this astonish country. What specifically to focus on? After all, the god damn (or is it God damn) Headmaster of a Primary School in the capital of the country is petrified of his wife getting tested, and his case is undeniably not isolated. What sort of impression and elucidation does this transfer to the students? “The principal is scared shitless of having his wife tested for the virus, so why should I ever openly subject myself to a test?” The underlying insecurities with the principal and other Ugandan males stem in the proposed belief that if their wives are getting tested, they clearly must be cheating on their husband partners. Let’s not forget the hetero-gender normative male culture of men and their multiple wives.
        What about the well respected and veteran HIV/AIDS counselor at a renowned northern Ugandan NGO? Just last week, rumors circulated that he impregnated a local student intern who he’d only known two months. An HIV/AIDS counselor and unprotected sex in a land of blazing and steadily increasing rate of HIV/AIDS?? Throughout my time in this fine section of the universe, I intermittently read signs that say, “Fight AIDS Uganda, Keep the Promise.” I’ve been forced to question ... "whose promise?"