Is the work we do and effort we put in to perfect our services worth it?



Nulu Tabizanga (at forefront with a cup of  break tea)

Nulu Tabizanga is a client registered with TASO Jinja even though she lives around 56km away from the Center. Because of this distance, Nulu is a beneficiary of the Community Drug Distribution Point services offered by TASO in  Kitayunjwa sub country  in Kamuli district.

Nulu can not read or write and does not know how old she is. She says that she never suspected that she was HIV positive until after her husband died of a mysterious death. A neighbor suggested to her that she go to TASO for an HIV test. Nulu did and unfortunately the results came out positive. She did not give up but rather decided to look at it as a new chance at life. She was started on ARVs, taught how to take care of her dietary needs and asked to bring any other members of her family for HIV testing and counseling. According her, she has never missed a day without taking her drugs.

Nulu has lost feeling in one arm and so has only one arm that can be pricked each time she needs to have blood drawn. During this particular day when we met, she had a suspected Urinary Tract Infection and had been referred to the hospital in Kamuli for further investigation.

Nulu invited us to visit her at home. She lives about 6km from the CDDP in a small house with her sister in law. Like her, Nulu's sister in law is a widow but she has provided all the necessary support she is able to offer. She is Nulu's medicine companion, her housemate and caretaker especially when Nulu is bedridden. They are family to each other and best friends. 

One very important thing to note about Nulu is that she is very grateful to TASO, its donors and friends for all the support she has received from the time she tested positive for HIV. She says that she would not be alive today if TASO and its donors had not been in existence. In fact during the entire interaction Nulu is smiling and so sincere when she expresses her gratitude. She is even very excited that TASO staff have traveled all the way to see where she lives.

Standing with Nulu infront of her incomplete house

She shows us an unfinished structure where she is building a better house with two rooms for herself and her sister in law. She plans to open a shop since the land is along the Jinja - Kamuli highway. She requests that we (or anybody) help her buy a small fridge so she can sell cold drinks to those traveling to and from Kamuli.We leave with lots of bananas and a whole basket of groundnuts grown by the two ladies on their small plot of land.

Seeing her smile and express her gratitude is enough to encourage TASO staff to carry on serving people like Nulu and many others spread out all over the country.