From Kampala to Dublin: The 2008 Global Partners Conference
By Catherine Nanyunja
Kampala, Uganda
October 16, 2008

From October 4 through 8, Foundation Uganda staff member Catherine Nanyunja traveled with Faith Kisakye, a 17-year-old Ugandan girl living with HIV, to the Global Partners Forum on Children Affected by HIV and AIDS in Dublin, Ireland. Faith was chosen to represent Uganda at the conference and share her experiences growing up with HIV. Read Part 2 of Catherine’s account of her trip with Faith below.

Read Part 2

Part 1: Before the Forum

Friday/Saturday

Friday, October 3, was the day Faith and I were scheduled to travel to Dublin for the Global Partners Forum. Nine countries were selected to send child participants and Uganda was one of them.

Instead of excitement, I was filled with low spirits. Our flight was scheduled for 7:00 p.m., but as of 10.30 a.m. we still had not been granted transit visas through the UK. I had picked Faith up from her hotel and brought her to our office to await our departure. She looked so composed, looking forward to her first trip to Ireland — little did she know about the visa saga!

When the phone rang, my heart skipped; it was the Irish embassy. “Cathy, you have been granted visas and we should meet at the airport at 4:00 p.m.,” I heard from the other end of the line. My face beamed with excitement and I immediately told Faith to prepare to set off to the airport. Soon afterward we boarded a flight for the long journey to Dublin, via Nairobi and London.

We arrived in Ireland at 10:20 the next morning and were thrilled to receive a VIP reception. It was rainy and cold, but we had prepared ourselves with two jackets each. We got into a taxi and headed for the Dublin Hotel. After check-in, we went for lunch at a local burger place and found they tasted much like the burgers we eat in Kampala. We took a quick tour around Dublin and then headed back to the hotel to rest.

At 5:00 p.m., we gathered in the lobby with the rest of the child participants in the forum. Faith was the only child living with HIV in the group; the other children either had family members with HIV and/or were working to sensitize their communities to HIV/AIDS issues.

Richard and Cathy

Everyone was excited to see us and we all introduced ourselves. We each gave our name, country of origin, and one thing that no one else knew about us. Richard, a conference presenter who accompanied the children from Tanzania, introduced himself and told us that on the inside, he is very thin and shy. I found that very funny because on the outside he looks quite the opposite! One of the trip’s light moments.

Sunday

It was a chilly, rainy Sunday. Everyone was excited and showed up for breakfast by 7:00 a.m. It was a typical breakfast for a five-star hotel, and it made my heart beam with joy to see Faith feast and enjoy her breakfast.

After breakfast, we gathered for a meeting to prepare for the forum. We were grouped according to our birthdays and discussed our expectations for the conference. Expectations included: learn more, exchange experiences and discuss challenges for children affected by HIV in other countries, and make new friends. We established ground rules and agreed to respect each other’s views, keep to our time limits when speaking, and protect confidentiality. We were then put into working groups and discussed the problems faced at home in our communities and children’s role in addressing those problems.

Faith (right) in her working group.

Cathy and Richard present to the group.

The groups made their presentations and then it was time to share personal experiences. Faith gave her testimony, talking about how she learned her HIV status, the stigma and discrimination she has encountered, and how she has managed to overcome it. The entire group was moved by Faith's story and despite her being the only HIV-positive child in the group, no one discriminated against her. She made many friends and everyone showed her love and respect.

Throughout the sharing of experiences, it was crystal-clear that the children are greatly involved in peer sensitization and doing voluntary work in their different countries on the issue of HIV/AIDS.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a photo shoot at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham with UNICEF Executive Director Anne M. Venemen. After this exciting afternoon, we headed back to the hotel to work on our presentations for the next day. Four children were selected to present: Uganda, Tanzania, Ireland, and Moldova. We retired off to our rooms for a quiet evening.

Read about Faith’s big presentation in the next installment!