Sketchy Business

Hello, I hope you all are surviving the summer heat well. For being extremely close to the equator, Jinja is not as hot as you may think it should be. It gets to about mid 80s during the day, without any humidity, making outdoor activities somewhat manageable.

There are two interactions that I want to detail in this blog post that don’t directly pertain to TASO (or work). Last weekend, I ventured to Kampala to meet up with a colleague. Getting to Kampala was stressful in of itself. Most towns have ‘taxi parks’ which are giant parking lots filled with taxis and buses to different areas of the country. I took a coaster, a smaller bus that can fit about 30 passengers, which travels a little slower thus making for a safer ride. The bumpy drive took roughly two and a half hours; the coaster itself was hot, and the windows were only cracked open, maintaining a delicate balance between air exchange and blockage of dust kicked up from passing cars. Kampala is broken up into seven hills, kind of like the five boroughs of New York City. I was headed to Namirembe, which is the Manhattan of Kampala, but I had no clue as to where it was located. I told the conductor where I was headed, but was not sure if he remembered, as there were all the other passengers he had to worry about. To make matters worse, people were talking in Luganda to the conductor and were using a hand signaling system to signal when to get off. I have never felt more out of the loop or lost in my life than I did for those 30 minutes driving around Kampala, until all remaining passengers had to disembark at the last stop. Fortunately for me, that last stop was in Namirembe, and a short boda-boda ride to the mall I planned to meet my acquaintance. Being outside in Kampala reminded me a lot of New Delhi; sidewalks were packed with people, and car fumes, honking and anarchy ruled the streets. In a ten-foot radius of my boda-boda were another ten boda-bodas, all inching their way forward whenever space became available. The phrase “every man for himself” could not have described the scene better. I saw on the news a few days ago that there is talk of putting bike lanes in Kampala to reduce congestion. That is a good joke.

I met with Justin Kibira in a small food court. Justin is a pharmacist by training, but works with HEPS Uganda, an organization that advocates for increased access to affordable medicines for the poor. Justin specifically works to oversee drug distribution to public health facilities. Public health facilities tend to be out of stock often because of a lack of funding. Private health facilities are able to restock medical supplies much more efficiently, as they have funds from donors and other parties. Our discussion revolved around ways healthcare can be improved and HIV prevalence can be decreased. While Justin agreed with me that Museveni has had his fair share of time as president, he mentioned that illiteracy and a lack of civil duty and empowerment are the biggest issues Uganda faces. Statistics by Tulane University lists that 56.5% of women and 30.7% of males are literate, a sign that fuels the need for improving education. Justin champions that a literate population will be motivated to work, live in sanitary conditions and will be informed about politics and global issues. He even went as far to theorize that Museveni does not put in enough money for education so that his voters and supporters, a large majority of which are rural farmers and illiterate, vote for him based on popularity in the upcoming election(s?). We both chuckled after that statement, but it makes you wonder.

Justin went on to further explain that the biggest issue Ugandans face is acquiring a sense of civil duty and respect towards one another. This issue applies to people who have failed to obtain a degree from a University (and it most certainly excludes people at HIV/AIDS clinics like TASO, where the staff constantly serves the community). Justin gave the example of just trying to move around town. Cars and boda-bodas will zoom by if there is open road ahead, even if there are pedestrians waiting to cross. You either have to continue waiting, or run the risk of getting smashed. I thought while it would be nice to have cars wait for you, there are plenty of other cities where these kinds of problems occur; this is a rather poor example of citizens acting accordingly. Justin then showed me a video a friend sent him. It was of a man being publicly beaten by a few others with a crowd of bystanders watching a few feet back. After being beaten to a pulp, the man was then burned alive. I had to refrain from eating my lunch in order not to gag, but this was sickening. While I didn’t know the background of the events leading up to the beating, they didn’t matter. It was disgusting to witness so many people just watching someone without the proper authority to treat another human that way. I was even more disheartened by the fact that no police arrived to clear the incident; this implied that no one out of all the witnesses even bothered to inform the authorities. The whole video is disturbing, but is a good example of the barbarism that lies within Ugandans and how some unexplainable behaviors are the norms. I’m not going to include the link because it is too graphic, but Google searches work well for the curious.

The days following my trip to Kampala have been less stressful and gut wrenching, but still thought provoking. On Wednesday, I was in the lab waiting to help analyze some sputum samples from TB patients, when one of the nurses struck up a conversation with me. She was interested to know how I was managing with the local foods and the kinds of meats and starches that were available in the US. One thing led to another, and soon we got on the topic of health facilities making cuts to their faculty. When I mentioned that Museveni’s signing of the anti-gay bill will hurt HIV/AIDS organizations, the nurse lit up. She expressed her support for the law, and made it known to me that she was anti-homosexual. I had initially assumed a lot of Ugandans were anti-gay simply because they thought it was someone’s choice to be gay; since most Ugandans are Christians, this choice conflicts with a lot of their religious beliefs, and they look down upon people who choose to behave otherwise. She asked me about my views, and I retorted that I support LGBT rights, because sexuality has been proven to not fully be a choice. The exact mechanisms that determine whether someone is homosexual or heterosexual have not been elucidated, but the current understanding is that part of identifying one’s sexuality originates from both genetics and personal choices. Since a person’s genetics are beyond their control, how can you accuse them for behaving a certain way? These were my points that I explained to her, in which she responded with a curveball. The nurse really didn’t comment on my thoughts but went on to explain that children and other youths are bribed to be gay by NGOs, which strive to spread the support of LGBT rights, since most African countries are conservative. She went on to claim organizations have come to Africa with the sole purpose of trying to normalize homosexuality. Students or young adults are the targets of these companies as they are in need of money for food or school tuition; they are told to act gay and inform others that it is ‘cool’ to be gay. This was not the first time I heard this; a counselor told me the same thing a few weeks ago, but I had brushed it aside since that sounded silly and unreasonable. My host family later confirmed that they had heard of organizations bribing people to be gay, with the Walter Reed Project being the most prominent example. Granted this is the opinion/belief of a few educated Ugandans, but if it was true, did other countries (the US, Sweden, Norway, countries that have suspended funds to Uganda) know about this?

After digging around the Internet for information and case examples, I can conclude that the Anti-Homosexuality Act has been very loosely written, and has resulted in many misunderstandings about how gays are treated. Earlier this month, after Western countries passed sanctions, the Ugandan government released a statement saying the intention of the Anti-Homosexuality Act was to “stop promotion and exhibition of homosexual practices.” The statement also noted that the government is “committed to the protection of rights of all individuals” and “committed to guarantee full access to social services, including health and HIV/AIDS services” for every Ugandan. While this statement carries the objective to illustrate a ‘common misconception’ that Westerners have interpreted the law harshly, and that Ugandans don’t discriminate against gays, there are two pieces of evidence that contradict the statement. The first is that Museveni led an Anti-Gay rally in Kampala soon after the bill’s signing. He publicly championed the law, and said things like homosexuality creates grave health problems in addition to being criminal and cruel.  Since Museveni said these comments at a public event, I have a hard time believing he supports the rights of gays, as mentioned in the statement. The second piece of information is that Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) an advocacy group for LGBT rights, has reported a ten-fold increase in Anti-LGBT attacks; since the signing of the bill, there have been 162 reported incidents (and potentially more that have not been reported) of attacks, which compared to the 19 incidents in 2012 is a staggering jump. Yet, the police are not the ones behind a lot of the attacks. Non-state actors play a large role in initiating these incidents and are free to do as they please since the police force is so crappy at maintaining jurisdiction. I though there was a line in the statement released to guarantee equal treatment for all persons in Uganda. That is another good joke.

But the deception does not end there. In the beginning of April, the Walter Reed Project at Makere University in Kampala was raided by Ugandan police. The project, which is funded by the U.S. military, was established in 2002 with the objective of developing an HIV vaccine. The project also offers additional educational and treatment opportunities including youth-focused and most at risk programs, SMC and PMTCT. The Ugandan police allegedly sent two cops undercover to the project to investigate the various programs. The officers claimed that other citizens or trainees were shown homosexual videos, encouraged to bring along other male partners, and given money for transportation as well as condoms and lubricants. The officers arrested one of the lead facilitators, but later released him, as the chief of police had not cleared the whole infiltration scheme. Even though the description provided by the cops seems to make the Walter Reed Project look like a recruitment firm, (which definitely would oppose the Anti-Homosexuality Act), it is hard to really know the truth without a testimony from any of the facilitators. A lot of the acts that were taking place happen in most other HIV/AIDS facilities. It is possible that since the project is funded by the US, gays may have felt more comfortable and safe going there for help or being educated about healthy living styles. Thus, it makes sense as to why same-sex videos were shown, or trainees were encouraged to bring their partners (so both of them could be educated together). Most clinics distribute condoms and lubricants to patients, so I don’t really view that as a form of recruitment. Unfortunately, we don’t really have conformation as to whether my points or the undercover cops’ are valid. But what is important to understand is that most Ugandan media has portrayed the Walter Reed Project as a recruiter for gays. As a result, most Ugandans believe that the Walter Reed Project and other organizations are terrible and trying to impose social codes to follow, without knowledge of the whole situation.

Before researching some of these cases, I thought maybe Ugandans are upset at Westerners for trying to promote human rights by bribing people, and that the law is really to stop influencing minors about their sexuality; maybe the US and other countries have misinterpreted the law and what it entails. I now see that this mode of thinking is incorrect. Simply put, most Ugandans hate homosexuals, homosexuality, and any organization that tries to promote equal rights for LGBT. I also believe the government made a half-hearted attempt to try and fool Western countries that the law is to prevent influence with their statement in July; Museveni’s open stance, the increase in anti-LGBT attakcs, and the raid on the Walter Reed Project all clearly show Ugandans do not guarantee the equal treatment of all people. I have pity towards Museveni and the people who believe there are people recruiting gays; no one is recruiting anybody. All the people and organizations are trying to do is promote equal rights and fair treatments of gays and HIV patients. But the government and Ugandans are just currently too stubborn to realize that there isn’t sufficient evidence to claim these organizations are recruiting. Members of the LGBT community are beginning to flee the country, and some have even asked to seek asylum in the US; it is sad to see that some people are so afraid of their own safety and government that they believe the only option for themselves is to leave the country.