The Nile Explorer Bus Delivers Health & Rights Curriculum to HIV/AIDS Prevalent Community in Rakai District

RAKAI – For the second stop, the Nile Explorer Bus, an initiative funded by the US Mission Uganda in partnership with Open Space Centre, headed west on its journey to Rakai District, to provide the youths and community members of Rakai District with relevant and accurate information about health and safety issues, including preventing HIV transmission.

A study dubbed ‘the Rakai Youth Project’ done by the Rakai Community Cohort Study (RCCS) as of September 30, 2021, investigated risk factors associated with HIV incident infections among young people in Rakai District. The project explored social context, adolescent development, biological and behavior risk factors, and the impact of changing HIV prevention and care policies. It also demonstrated particularly the importance of school enrollment and school leaving on HIV risk over time among the adolescents in Rakai District.

The study revealed that beyond individual characteristics and behaviors, social structural factors (e.g. socioeconomic status, educational opportunities, gender, AIDS, orphanhood, public policies) and the timing of adolescent and young adult social role transitions (e.g. leaving school, initiation of sexual behaviors, migration and leaving home, marriage formation and dissolution) may be critical drivers of HIV acquisition and other reproductive outcomes among the youth of Rakai District.

The Nile Explorer bus, and the health & rights curriculum on board delivered by the trainers, are helping the youth of Rakai District to understand the social processes that produce HIV risk and that protect young people from HIV infection. The curriculum provides for a safe space for the boys and girls, in which they can freely discuss the issues affecting them ranging from sexual health to both school and home-related gender-based violence in the community in which they reside.

“Many already know about some of the things that happen in their communities through things happening to their sisters, or friends dropping out of school due to teenage pregnancies or school-related violence. However, the way in which they access it is what causes or fuels their poor decision making because they mostly have needs for this knowledge,” said Rehema Nakato, the Health & Rights Trainer for the Nile Explorer Bus.

“However, this project looks at continuously engaging the young learner through a program where they will be able to take part in a community project like a health awareness campaign or community services that can teach others out there who are no longer in school about health-related issues,” Rehema adds.

Juliet Nabukenya, a 15-year-old resident of Rakai District, said the program both enlightened and reinforced her ideals concerning persons, especially the young people, living with HIV/AIDS in her community.

“Every problem has a solution. It is not only we the youth who lose hope, but even the elders can also lose hope. For example in this COVID-19 holiday, if a boy or girl finds out they are HIV positive, they start to get worried and might even consider suicide,” Juliet narrated.

“The world has not ended. These people can take the drugs, and all they need is someone to encourage them. Sometimes you find parents yelling at them instead of encouraging them. Suffering is not the end of life. Although one is positive, they don’t have to have negative thoughts,” she added. “This program has given us the courage and hope that we can continue to learn and study.”

Juliet expressed that the Nile Explorer has encouraged her to focus on her future to achieve so much more in life.

U.S Mission Uganda alongside other organizations like Peace Corps Uganda and PEPFAR, looks forward to increasing the knowledge and skills of vulnerable youth (age 13-19) to remain HIV-free so as to attain a healthy generation of youth by 2030.

Besides delivering Health & Rights information, the bus carried with it, other components of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics tools/games aimed to contribute to the empowerment of young people in the underserved communities of Rakai District by providing them with access to STEM learning, reading material, computers, and the internet so as to motivate them to reach their full potential.

All this will aid in empowering Ugandan youth and helping young people to achieve their full potential as stated by the Deputy Chief of Mission, Christopher Krafft of the U.S Embassy in Uganda on Friday, November 5, 2021 during the launch of the 12-stop youth engagement tour at Blend Gardens in Kawempe.