10. Will You Think Twice Before You Turn on the Faucet?

Minutes after entering the house that I would be living in for the next three months, I learned that the water from the faucet doesn't go in your mouth or onto any sores or open cuts and scrapes.

Food and water are the most basic necessities of life. A person on average can only live without water for three days. It becomes less surprising that people would resort to ingesting any type of water they can find. Even if that water is contaminated with deadly diseases and bacteria.

The water in Uganda is contaminated with dirt, fecal matter, waste and disease. Stagnant water holes breed mosquitos who carry malaria. People and animals both bathe and defecate in a river which then carries that waste down stream where another family is collecting jerry cans of water for drinking.

Dirty water.

My team kept a large supply of clean drinking water at our house to refill our water bottles. Each jerry can of water was used for cooking, teeth brushing and drinking. We would wash our hands with faucet water and then use anti-bacterial hand sanitizer after.

At any given time you could see children trekking down the road with yellow cans on their heads, preparing to collect water from the river to bring back to their mothers. It is a child's job to fetch water from the closest river whenever it is needed.

Heading to get water.

The most common illnesses in Africa are transferred through the contaminated water: typhoid, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis and diarrhea. It is completely preventable too.

If clean water can't be found or afforded, purifying water only takes minutes. Filter the contaminated water at least once and then bring it to a rolling boil for at least one minute. When the water has cooled it is safe to drink.

Those extra moments of work can really save a lot of heartache and devastation and illness.

9. How Bad Do You Need to See a Doctor?

Hospital trash pile being burned only yards from the main building of the hospital.

If you are a citizen of America, you have a high chance of seeing that doctor. In the United States there are 2.67 doctors per 1000 people. In Uganda there are 0.12 doctors per 1000 people. San Marino, a tiny landlocked country in Italy of 32,000 people, has 47 doctors per 1000 people.

San Marino has no one living with HIV/AIDS, no major infectious diseases, no water sanitation issues and a life expectancy of 83 while only using 7.1 percent of the countries income on health expenditures.

Uganda has...well, let's compare San Marino to the United States first.

The United States has 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS, no major infectious diseases, 33.9 percent of the population is obese, mild water sanitation issues with 1 percent of the population and a life expectancy of 78 while using 16.2 percent of the countries income on health expenditures.

Now Uganda. Uganda also has 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS. There is a very high risk of infectious diseases such as malaria, plague, African sleeping sickness, rabies, hepatitis A and typhoid fever. Approximately 33 percent of the population lives without access to clean drinking water with an average of 6.7 children born per woman in the country. The country spends 8.2 percent of its income on health for citizens, who are only expected to live until age 53.

Pediatric Ward at Kawolo Hospital in Lugazi. Patients' families hang clothes and linens to dry in the sun.

After doing the calculations, I found out that there is approximately one doctor per 8,333 people in Uganda. The population is approximately 34.7 million thus meaning there are 4,164 doctors in the entire country of Uganda.

During the Fall 2010 semester at Brigham Young University-Idaho there were 14,944 students enrolled. There were approximately 3.6 times more students at BYU-Idaho then there are doctors in Uganda.

Uganda currently has five medical universities with two more planned to open in 2012 and 2015. Medicine is not seen as a prestigious profession. Doctors and nurses are underpaid, mistreated and occasionally corrupt.

At the Kawolo Hospital in Lugazi, Uganda there were two doctors, about seven clinicians and less than 40 nurses. One doctor was the medical director of the hospital as well, so I don't believe he practiced much medicine.

Maternity Wing/NICU at Kawolo Hospital

At Methodist Hospital in Sacramento, California, it is estimated that there are 75 doctors and around 300 nurses. They are licensed for 169 beds.

Karl Marx, the father of Socialism, argued about the unequal distribution of resources and the need to properly distribute. This same principle should be applied to the distribution of doctors.

If there are numerous infectious diseases running rampant in a country that only has one doctor for every 8,333 people, how is anyone expecting these diseases to be eradicated? Should we give up on these people and their potential because there isn't a way for them to help themselves?

Doctors Without Borders is an amazing organization devoted to providing the medical attention that is needed throughout the world. Volunteer doctors and nurses travel to over 60 countries to provide life-sustaining assistance to those threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe.

Hand washing station, reserve water tanks, tomorrow's dinner roaming around.

With Uganda building two more medical universities in their country, hopefully those graduates will fight in Uganda to end the medical crisis that they face. It will be those devoted Ugandan men and women who will finally bring the revolution to Uganda ... finally ending the poverty that has plagued them for generations.

8. HIV/AIDS: Prevalent in Uganda and America

The first time I ever heard anything about HIV and AIDS was from the musical RENT. I did not know very much, I later found out when a clinician in Uganda named Emmanuel proceeded to teach me everything he knows about the conditions.

**This is not a complete history, discussion, or analysis of HIV/AIDS. For more information visit the CDC website for up-to-date facts and discoveries.**

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is the virus that causes AIDS. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a disease interfering with the immune systems ability to defend the body. People with AIDS are more likely to get other common infections and opportunistic infections that a healthy immune system would be able to fight off, such as pneumonia or tuberculosis.

Transmission of HIV is through bodily fluids: blood, semen or vaginal fluid and breast milk. Sexual transmission is most common, through unsafe sex. Blood transfusions used to be common but they have been virtually eradicated through increased screening processes.

There is no known vaccination for HIV or cure for HIV/AIDS. Prevention is the most efficient way to avoid the disease but there is hope for those who have been exposed. Antiretroviral treatments have been developed to successfully increase the quality of life and prolong the lives of those infected.

At the HOPE Orphanage in Ssetta, they had four HIV positive orphans.

AIDS was first reported in Los Angeles, California in 1981. It is commonly thought to be only prevalent in homosexual individuals because it was first diagnosed in five homosexual men and the most high profile cases were famous homosexual men. HIV/AIDS does not know sexual orientation though. It also does not know race. While HIV is rampant around Africa, there are still 1.2 million people living in the United States with HIV.

When I was in Uganda, I worked with Emmanuel doing HIV tests at the Lugazi University Clinic. We offered free tests to University students and their families as well as counseling about HIV prevention and treatments. Testing is very simple and cost-friendly. You prick the finger of the patient to release a small amount of blood that is then put onto a test strip. After waiting about five minutes, the strips can be read: one line means negative while two lines means positive. A positive test calls for a secondary test to rule-out false positives. If this second test says positive then it is sure but if it says negative, a third "tie-breaker" test is performed.

The test is checking for antibodies for HIV in your blood. If those antibodies are present, then you are positive. It does take some time for the antibodies to develop in the body, so if infection just occurred, a secondary testing session six months later is necessary.

University workers waiting for test results in the clinic.

The Ugandan government has successfully adopted the ABC campaign for teaching about HIV/AIDS: Abstinence, Be faithful, Contraceptive (if a and b fail). Promoting this campaign in schools, hospitals, and clinics has dramatically decreased the percentage of HIV infected citizens but HIV/AIDS in Uganda is still considered to be an issue.

There is still a lack of knowledge among people in Uganda about the dangers of HIV even with all of the informational campaigns circulating. The availability of treatment drugs and prevention tactics are little known in rural villages. Contrast that with all the knowledge about the dangers and difficulties of HIV that we know here in America and this next fact will shock you.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a new estimate that only 28 percent of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the US are receiving treatments.

With all our knowledge and information, why are 72 percent of infected individuals not being treated?

Equipment required for HIV testing: test strips, antiseptic wipes, clean and sterile needles.

HIV is highly contagious when you come in contact with the bodily fluids of an infected individual. During one HIV testing session in the village of Kyunga, Uganda, clinician Emmanuel pricked a patient's finger to draw his blood and dropped the contaminated needle onto his foot, drawing a small amount of his own blood. That small interaction of blood could have proved devastating for Emmanuel if the patient had tested HIV positive. Luckily for all involved, the patient was negative. But Emmanuel still needed to be aware that he needed a follow-up test six months later to be sure that there was no transmission of the virus.

I met a 22 year old man named Henry during my first time working with Emmanuel at the University clinic. I spoke with Henry about why he was getting tested. He said that he wanted to know his status. It is important to know your HIV status because that can drastically change your whole life. A positive status pretty much means a death sentence. There are pills and treatments and counseling but there are also immense risks and dangers involved with having HIV. He didn't want to be in dark anymore about where his life was going.

Then he asked if I had been tested. I said no. He asked why I didn't want to know my status. I told him I already knew I was negative because I had not participated in the risky behavior that leads to transmission. But after I explained that, I still felt uneasy. The next time I worked with Emmanuel, I asked him to test me. After sterilizing my finger and opening a new needle and testing strip, Emmanuel administered the test and I was able to experience the unease that each other person in the waiting room felt while waiting for their results. The unknown.

The others who were tested on the day that I was. Three other volunteers on my team were tested.

During my results consultation, I was informed that I was negative. It really was a surprisingly big relief to hear the words even though I already knew. The weight of the unknown was off my shoulders and I could then say with certainty that I was HIV-negative.

Negative tests in hand with Emmanuel after we all found out our results.

There are still millions of people who cannot say those words though. People who live with the weight of HIV on them each day. Holding their status in their hands and knowing that it will eventually kill them. HIV/AIDS is still majorly prevalent in the world, even in the United States.

December 1 is World AIDS Day. The one day a year to focus purely on AIDS. To spread awareness. To let the victims of HIV/AIDS know that they are not alone, and that someone cares about them. So this year Represent to Prevent and help us get to zero.

What People are Doing: Invisible Children

Invisible Children has been involved in the fight against the civil war in Uganda since 2003. During the past eight years, they have done all they could to bring the issue to the news and to develop ways to provide help to the people of Uganda. The following video shows the progress they have made.

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Two More Stories

John:

I met John during my weekend in Gulu last summer. He consented to tell his story in hopes that those that heard it would bring the horror back to America.

John was kidnapped when he was only 12 years old. He was hiding in the bush (the tall weeds and grass that surrounds the displacement camps) one night because he was too exhausted to walk all the way into town, which was about 3 miles away. He heard from his hiding spot as the army attacked his camp. He stayed as still as possible in hopes that they wouldn't find him. But they did. When John thought that the army had fled the camp, he started to leave his hiding spot and two men grabbed him threatening him with guns.

John was told that his whole family had been killed, so his best option was the "security" of the Lord's Resistance Army. John was a soldier in the army for 9 years. He worked closely with the leader, Joseph Kony, and he knew intimate details about the organization of the rebel army.

John blocked the terrible acts he committed from his memory. He is still effected each day by the things he was forced to do to innocent children and families. But each time he did, he knew that he was one day closer to freedom.

During an attack, John was shot in the leg and deemed useless to the army. Because he was such a faithful soldier, Kony allowed him to live and be taken back to his home. No one in his family survived in Gulu so John was taken to a recovery center to rehabilitate. He was given medical help and therapy to discuss what he went through. When he was allowed back into civilization, he experienced a personal stigma from other people. They believed he was still the enemy because he had been with the army for so long. It is hard for him to get a job because of this stigma.

Edward:

I met Edward at the rehabilitation center World Visions. He was still unable to leave the center because he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress, even years after escaping. He told us this story.

Edward was a soldier in the army for only a few weeks, when his commanding officer forced him to prove his loyalty to the army. They ambushed a small village and kidnapped a few women. The officer picked one woman and told Edward that if he was truly loyal to the cause he would have to use a machete to cut off her nose, lips, ears, and fingertips.

Edward was only 13 when the officer made him do this. He reluctantly accomplished the task and the army left the woman there to die.

Four months later, Edward escaped from the army during a direct battle with Ugandan government military. Edward was brought to World Vision to be treated medically and mentally. A few days after he was there, he spoke with a therapist about this "loyalty initiation."

Days later, a woman approached him from behind and said hello. This woman was the same woman that Edward had mutilated months before. She had somehow crawled to a main road a mile from where the army abandoned her and she was picked up hours later and brought to World Vision. When she told him this, Edward burst into tears. The woman looked at him and told him not to cry. She was alive and recovering. She did not blame him and was not at all angry with him for what he did. She forgave him immediately after the event occurred, and now hoped that he could forgive himself.

Days after that encounter, Edward tried to escape World Vision, and his life, by jumping off the retaining wall. During the next few months he attempted suicide three more times.

When I met Edward in 2010, he had been living at World Vision for two years. He was not able to leave the center because he was believed to be a danger to himself.

James' Story

Over the years, news crews have brought attention to the tragedy happening in Uganda and have asked victims to recount their story for the world to read.

James is a school teacher in one of the Internally Displaced Persons camps in the outskirts of Gulu. He was asked to narrate his story under a different name for safety purposes.

My name is Kilambus Charles. I come from Gulu district, which is found in northern Uganda. This district has been affected by the continuing civil war that has made great impact on the people living in the region.

I was abducted by rebels together with my wife in the middle of 2003 and stayed with them for 3 months.

It was around 9:00 p.m. and I was asleep in my room. Suddenly we were surrounded by rebels and I heard a kick at the door and was ordered to open it. Two rebels forced their way inside my room and tied my arms behind my back using my shirt. They looted my clothes, mobile phone, camera, bed sheet and many other things including the original of my exam certificate. They ordered my wife to carry all those properties and bring them out while the other rebels were busy looting properties from my mother's and brother's house.

They took us to join about 70 other people who had been rounded up. I was tied around the waist with one person and they put my wife close to me and ordered me to take care of her. If she escaped, I would be killed.

They took us to the next village and put us there while other rebels went back to collect food that was given to us and carried it with them. We walked a distance of 50 kilometers that night without resting and carrying bean seeds of 75 kg. Those who were unable to carry such weight were killed.

On our way, two of the former rebels whose feet were swollen and the skin was peeling off were killed and they told us that the same thing may happen to any one who could not walk.

We were going towards Sudan straight away. We walked for four days without eating anything and with the heavy load. I got tired and my feet started to swell and peel off as a result of walking a long distance. I was weak already. Life was terrible.

The rebel commander ordered that we had to increase the speed of walking because the Ugandan army, UPDF, was following us. But I couldn't walk. So I was beaten seriously and they ordered me to run quickly if I didn't want to be killed. So I had to do it. During the process of beating, I was given dislocation in the bone and seriously injured in my body.

When we entered in the camp, we were welcomed by other rebels. In the morning the rebel commander ordered us in line. They started selecting young girls who were 10 to 15 years old to be the rebel's wives, which is a violation of children's rights and at the same time is child abuse. Those who were not beautiful or had problems in their legs or body so that they could not manage what ever was needed, must be killed and they did it. Now, with those serious killings we found it normal. Staying with them, I started learning from them how the rebels behave compared to home. But there was no way I could escape.

Once day around 10:00 am we were attacked by an army helicopter gunship. We continued moving and taking cover in the tall grass and under trees. The rebel commander ordered killed people who were dressed in white and red since those colors would eaisily be seen by the soldiers in the helicopter. Two of the abducted girls were killed there and then. I had on white shorts and a green t-shirt. I feared I was the next person to be killed. But I was ordered to remove the shorts and remain half naked. I had to walk like that in the tall grass until we arrested some civilians who had a good pair of trousers.

This is how I escaped from the rebels: One day I was chosen to be among the 150 people to participate in a battle with army soldiers. When we met with those soldiers and the battle was terrible, I was among the 30 abduted who luckily narrowly escaped death."

7. The War in Northern Uganda Examined

I am going to use the city of Gulu to represent the entire northern region of Uganda. Gulu was the epicenter for the terror that was inflicted upon the people of Uganda by Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army beginning in 1987 and continuing until 2007, though there is still a threat today as Kony and the LRA have only moved one country over to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Uganda

Kony began his reign of terror, taking over for Alice Lakwena when her efforts were thwarted during an attack in southern Uganda, claiming he was possessed by the Spirit of God and instructed to overthrow the government with the help of the Acholi people (the main inhabitants of Gulu).

To accomplish this governmental overhaul, Kony recruited people who believed in him to build up his army. Without much luck in recruiting people to "the cause," Kony and his comrades took to kidnapping children and pillaging towns and villages. The LRA is most infamously known for ravaging northern Uganda and creating such an extreme fear in the people, that they were forced into Internally Displaced Peoples camps.

These camps were eventually created by the government in an effort to protect the people. They erected temporary hut dwellings for multiple families to live in. At one time there were an estimated 2 million people living in the displacement camps. There were a few government sanctioned soldiers guarding the camps, but, when night fell, it didn't really matter. Soldiers abandoned their posts and the camps were left vulnerable.

Internally Displaced Peoples Camp

Kony's army was very strategic about their recruitment. Adults were hard to control, so they were killed or mercilessly beaten. Children could be kidnapped with great ease and brainwashed into compliance. Children were also in abundance and easily replaceable. Machetes were a popular tool among soldiers and were easily wielded by small children.

The Lord's Resistance Army's tactic was to ambush villages or camps, pillage homes, kill or severely maim adults and kidnap the young children for soldiers or wives. Girls were taken to "please" the high ranking officers.

Temporary camp dwellings people were forced to live in

To avoid being abducted, kids became "night commuters." As the sun went down, they would walk from their small villages or displacement camps into the big cities to sleep. Cities were safer because there was a more consistent military presence and the rebel army was less incline to attack. The night commuters would sleep under store awnings or in alley ways. When morning came, the children would commute back to their homes, hopeful to find their parents safe.

The founders of the organization Invisible Children created an informational video about the terror that struck the area and it bled into the hearts of thousands of Americans. The video focused on the children night commuters that were effected by the war.

Kidnap victim. He escaped and is now receiving medical care and therapy.

This went on for years. Children weren't able to go to school because of the need to commute and the poor conditions in the camps. Millions lived in fear for their lives with each passing day. The Ugandan government did what they could to keep the people safe, but even that effort was not enough to destroy Kony and his army.

I have heard horror stories about the intimidation that the army utilized to manipulate these innocent children into doing their bidding. Stories of children being forced to kill their own parents to show loyalty or forced to kill or maim another kid to save their own life are common. Kony is featured on Forbes' list of The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives. He is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes among other charges.

While Kony and the rebel army have fled Uganda, they are still rampant in parts of Sudan and especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo. How many more people need to suffer and die before we, as brothers and sisters of these victims, realize the change that needs to be made?