Uganda is often held up as a model for Africa in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Strong government leadership, broad-based partnerships and effective public education campaigns all contributed to a decline in the number of people living with HIV and AIDS in the 1990s.

Despite this impressive reduction in the spread of AIDS in Uganda (from 30 percent in the 1980s to 6.5 percent to date), AIDS is still infecting and killing many Ugandans. Uganda’s HIV prevalence rate has stagnated over the past four years, meaning that the country is not managing to reduce the number of new HIV infections.

Damalie Andabati, the health specialist in our Uganda Country Office, says,

“Currently 6.3 percent of Uganda’s population is infected with HIV, and a new issue that has been discovered by the Uganda Virus Research Institute is that 66 percent of the new infections are among married couples.”

The reason for the high percentage in this unexpected group is not yet certain.

It is feared that HIV prevalence in Uganda may be rising again. It has been suggested that antiretroviral drugs have changed the perception of AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable disease. This perception may have reduced the fear surrounding HIV.

As part of our holistic outcomes around health, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV is part of the regular health screenings conducted for the parents and children at the child development centers.

Kansanga Child Development Center carried out a VCT session back in March and 233 caregivers and children were tested, which is one of the best success stories of beneficiaries being tested for HIV by Compassion Uganda.

Kansanga, a red-light district of Kampala, is a community in the slum areas, and the child development center is located one kilometer away. Much effort has been put in clearing this district of prostitution and raising awareness about preventing HIV. Many fear being seen going for the test or seeing the results they will receive from the test.

More than 60 percent of Uganda’s population is illiterate and ignorant, and others are even too poor to own radios from which they would hear information on where to go for testing. Our church partner staff, and government officials, are hopeful for the future — that with tireless effort in community training and sensitization this figure will be adjusted.

Why do we do the things we do? You and I.

Why bother getting that advanced degree? Just for the credentials?

Why eat the whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s ONE Cheesecake Brownie when 500 calories of poverty fighting creaminess would be good enough?

Why buy the pint to begin with? An outright donation to some cause that rhymes with Compassion would probably make a more direct impact in the fight against poverty. It would sure help my poor jeans — not the donation part, the not buying and eating part.

Here are some of the more exceptional reasons I do things.

• I enjoy it.
• I can’t help myself.
• I wanted to.
• I had to.
• It’s good for my career.
• The ladies like it.
• My boss made me.

Pretty good. Right?

Why do you think Compassion does what it does? Just for the heck of it?

Nope!

We do this poverty fighting stuff because we want to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. (Honk if you appreciated the subtle way I inserted our tagline.)

But what does releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name mean? I did it again How do we know we’ve been successful?

This is for you Andrzej. It’s “the” post Becky alluded to in her reply to your comment on Maila’s Dream.

Although I’m not talking about the actual “how” we measure our success or the “method” we use to measure our success — that’s all top secret cloak and dagger type of stuff — I am hitting you up with the measuring stick we use.

Compassion’s success in releasing children from poverty is Outcome Driven.

We’re successful when the children in our Child Survival Programs (CSP) are physically healthy, curious, and self confident, when they have healthy age-specific relationships and when they interact and communicate with the world around them.

We’re successful when the mothers and/or caregivers in our CSP programs are sufficiently healthy to provide for the well-being of their children, when they’re motivated and able to be economically self-supporting and when they’re committed to Christ.

We’re successful when the children in our Child Sponsorship Program commit their lives to Christ, choose good health practices, are physically healthy, are motivated to learn new skills, demonstrate the skills to support themselves in the future and interact with others in healthy and compassionate ways.

We’re successful when the students in our Leadership Development Program do all the above and demonstrate servant leadership.

We’re successful when our church partners in the developing world demonstrate effective vision and leadership and take ownership of their vision by establishing efficient structures, practices and management to achieve their goals.

And finally, we’re successful, when you, our sponsors and donors, are actively committed and engaged in advocating for the needs of children in poverty, when you have a positive Compassion experience and … and … okay, I’ll say it … when you comment on our blog posts.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” —Proverbs 31:8-9, NIV