by Emily Matos, charity:water

Below is the three month update for breaking ground in Uganda, Liberia, and Ethiopia with funding we raised through The Water=Hope Campaign on the Brad Paisley H2O world tour.

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One of the unique aspects of the model of Lwala Community Alliance, is that while there is a clinic, the program is multi-dimensional, there is also a strong water, sanitation, and hygiene program (WASH), a education initiative that partners with schools and helps to provide secondary school scholarships based on academic merit and need, Umama Salama, an initiative to train community members on basic lifesaving skills to reduce maternal and infant mortality, and a sewing cooperative. The clinic staff goes on school outreaches at local primary schools which includes health education and free preventive care.

One of the most heart-rending patients I saw was young man with HIV/AIDS. He had initially presented to the clinic on 12/10 with advanced disease (for the medical folks his CD4 count was 3) and was started on antiretroviral therapy (HAART). He came back to clinic in January dehydrated with diarrhea, some fairly advanced skin ulcers, cough and fever. I remember the morning he arrived he was laying outside the clinic on a mat an hour before opening, I could tell from a distance that he was incredibly emaciated, I went over to make sure he was okay, and this man, despite his illness gave me the sweetest smile. He continued to have such a warm smile throughout the few days he spent on observation with us while receiving IV fluids and antibiotics, and gradually improved though he was still very weak. He was discharged on home-based care and I walked with the community health workers to his house a few days later to see how he was.