International Women's Day

On March 8th SMAK celebrated International Women’s Day. We were delighted to share the occasion with friends from other organisations and local women and children. Our IT teacher Ann was Master of Ceremonies for the day and did a veryprofessional job introducing everybody.

Entertainment came from Development Centre for Marginalised Children (DECEMAC) who performed some lovely songs and poems. Two boys from SMAK’s own Chipukizi Talent Group danced some impressive self-taught routines and the Gender Based Violence group wrote and acted out a play about husband beating which the audience enjoyed very much.

Refreshments were served by our volunteers afterwards and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

Below are some photographs from Women‘s Day 2012. More can be found on our new flickr page here.

Director Angelina Nandwa addressing the audience

Master of Ceremonies for the day, Ann

Chipukizi Talent 

Some of the ladies in the audience

DECEMAC members and children

Gender Based Violence group perform their drama

Acting out the fight scene!

Phrander from DECEMAC performing her poem

Roselyne discussing human rights

Meet our Team Part 2

Judy in the VCT reception

Name: Judy Namasaka


Role: Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) counselor and Chairlady of Hope Beyond Boundaries group


Tell me about Hope Beyond Boundaries:
Hope Beyond provides psycho-social support and counselling to those living with and affected by HIV. We hold support groups where we discuss how to live positively. This involves how to accept your HIV status, nutrition, referral for opportunistic infections and how to support family members. We also carry out home based care, where by we visit those too sick to leave their beds and take care of them. This involves nursing and counselling patients. We discuss the side effects of drugs and what action to take and train members to carry out these visits on their own. 


What other activities would you like Hope Beyond to become involved in?
In the past we have assisted members in starting income generating activities so that they can be self-reliant. We hope to begin a greenhouse project this year if funds allow, so that members can grow vegetables which can then be sold for profit. 


What are the challenges you face in your work?
It can be difficult to recruit members. Unfortunately people expect to receive an allowance for participation in support groups, and we cannot afford to provide this support. Instead, we encourage members to join so we can help them start activities to create their own income. For this reason, recruiting members initially can be difficult. We also ask members to contribute a small fee, which some people struggle to pay. 


What have some of your achievements been so far?
Despite the challenges I mentioned, we have recruited 38 members and registered the group with the Ministry of Gender. We have attempted some income generating activities, and whilst these have not been successful so far, we have learnt from them and look forward to starting a new project. 


What do you like about working for SMAK? 
The work has helped me to talk openly to different people and exposed me to many different issues. I have gained a lot of experience in counselling and have met many challenges which I know will lead me to bigger achievements. Chairing Hope Beyond has taught me transferable skills which I hope will help me expand my career.


What one thing would make your job easier or improve SMAK? 
With more funds we could really expand our income generating activities and buy more home-based care kits to cover a wider area with our home visits. 

Judy with some of the Hope Beyond Boundaries Members