At The National

08/14/05

Last night I ended up at The National Theater for an informal jam session. It was recommended by a local I met at the vegetable market. It was amazing. A great opportunity to chat with locals, listen to the music.

I was talking to a guy Steven, he was telling me about all the best spots in town. Then we were talking about broader topics. I asked him about growing up here, about his childhood. He knew what I was talking about: Idi Amin. He looked at me with this strange, unbelievable intensity, and tried to talk. "You see, when I was ten…" The intensity that he was boring into my eyes and my skull was almost unbearable. He couldn't go on. I understood immediately, I didn't press. He said "I just don't have the words in English to describe." We went back to talking about the hot spots in town.

Mulago Hospital, pediatric ward. I interviewed an amazing woman, Cissy Ssuuna, a councilor for HIV+ children. She was so open and honest and warm and hopeful. She had tested positive just before her husband had died of HIV/AIDS/Meningitis, leaving her with her three children. It was 1991, and a different world then. There was still so much stigma and fear around HIV/AIDS that even as a woman in the health care field, she was afraid to admit her status. She had her and her husband's blood tested in secret, and then didn't tell anyone about her positive status. And when she did, no one believed her! So she didn't receive any help, and began to get very sick, to the brink of death. It was a friend from the states that helped her get her first ARVs, which helped save her life. And now she in turn has dedicated her life to saving others.

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