Wow, it is already near to Christmas, which will be next week to be precise. And with this contribution I wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

A lot is happening here in Adi. Especially this week is busy with a church service for Christmas, a wedding and a graduation.

Funding

In November, when I was in Kampala to obtain a multiple entry visa for Uganda (then I don’t have to buy a visa of $50 every time I enter Uganda), I received an email that one request for funding has been approved! Yeah. Thank You Lord. It is the money we need to be able to organize the training that the National AIDS Program wants to give to medical staff in Adi. After that we will be able to start organizing VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) and PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) in Adi Health Zone and treatment with ARV (Anti Retro Virals) in Adi Hospital. The training is a key event to further activities in hospital, health zone and AIDS Program to help people living with HIV. Medical staff is involved as well in brainstorming together and we are focusing on January 2014 to be able to organize the training.

World AIDS Day was December first. Even in the health zone this year nothing really was organized because of a busy schedule of all involved. I have written a paper that you can read on aidsawarenessceca20drc.blogspot.com. It was well received when it was read in many of the CECA 20 churches of Adi Health Zone.

AIDS ministry

In all the four health zones of Adi, Adja, Ariwara and Aru the work continues. The staff presents the facts about AIDS in many different ways: discussions, teaching, film and radio. Also they are assisting people living with HIV by making their trip possible to go for treatment to Uganda, home visits and counseling. They also assist several orphans with school fees. In Adi one of them is Esther. Her parents both died of AIDS related diseases and Esther is living with her grandmother. When we got to know her, she was crying. At kindergarten the teacher had been talking about mommy and daddy and she realized that she didn’t have either one of them. Her family called her ‘Never’. Not a good name, we decided with the head teacher of the kindergarten and we changed her name to Esther (star) Anyadru (Aimee), because she is loved by Jesus and by many people around her. When I was in Kampala I bought her a new dress and took it to her one afternoon.

Esther in her new dress

Esther is beaming with joy

Esther with her grandmother who is taking care of her