The trip was organised by the director of a project that another 'The Real Uganda' volunteer is at. In all there were four volunteers and about six Ugandans who went on the trip.
Lake Victoria is huge and it really does feel like the sea. The furtherest islands still within Ugandan jurisdiction are a 12 hour boat ride away. Thankfully the island we stayed on was only 2 hours away.
The lake was pretty choppy on the trip out and the boats we traveled on weren't particularly sturdy (in fact permanent bailing seemed to be required). There were no life jackets and I spent a fair bit of time assessing which landmark I would swim towards if the boat sunk. Most Ugandans can't swim and are very fearful of the lake.
The communities on the islands vary in size, but all are small. There is no electricity, no cars (although of course there may be on some of the larger islands). The houses are what I would classify as shacks. Most people on the islands are fishermen. Not many women and children live out there, although the town we stayed had enough children to support a school. The children were all very excited to see us and they couldn't stop giggling when we showed them photos of themselves.
I think our girlish mzungu ways showed when we all shrieked at the spiders and bugs in our accommodation. In fact the four of us insisted sharing two to a bed rather than face a night alone in a spider infested shack.
The testing itself took place on a different island. We prepared a spiel on HIV for the crowd that gathered which was interpreted for us. It was delivered outside under the shade of a tree (no such thing as a hall/health clinic or school on this island). The testing was then done in one of the little shacks on the island by one of the group. Everyone who tested received post testing counseling by two trained HIV counselors. It was worrying to see how little people knew about HIV, questions from the crowd included people asking whether HIV could be spread by shaking hands.
Seeing the results themselves was also more difficult than I imagined. Of the 80 people who were tested, 9 showed positive results. While 80 tested, many present at our talk did not, fear of HIV is alive and well. I was particularly relived when a small girl and her mother both tested negative.
While there is access to retro-viral drugs here, they are only available in certain places. Given the location of island and particularly the cost involved getting to the health clinics I'd say that it is pretty unrealistic that all those people who did test positive will get the treatment they need.
The public health emphasis here is certainly on containing HIV rather than treating it and you can understand that stance taken by the government. Hopefully one day there will be an effective vaccine.
All in all it was a very insightful trip which once again left me extremely grateful for the life I lead.
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