The early morning sunlight still had coolness as we set out in a crowded van with six Ugandan friends. Our companions all worked together as home visitors in an AIDS project in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. They had become aware of a place beyond the reach of AIDS care and decided to do something about it themselves. They asked us to come see the HIV testing and education site they set up sponsoring it by paying all of the expenses out of their own impoverished pockets. We were willing to lend a little support to this generous effort. "Let's go see what's happening with this" was our breezy thought

Turning into a schoolyard we discover hundreds of people gathered to welcome us with singing and smiles. Being ushered into a crowded classroom we are surprised to meet the local officials from both the parish and the government and realize this party has been well planned. Ah ha! We represent a signal to these good people that help is on its way to combat AIDS. It is unfortunate, but true, that often the "muzungus" (foreign people) bring resources and programs, opportunity and hope. Despite Wanyange's location of just being 15 miles from the sizeable town of Jinjja, where AIDS care is supposedly available, no one in Wanyange has access to HIV testing, medications, or treatment. For over 25 years the people here had been witnessing the wasting disease of AIDS killing neighbors, relatives, and children without anything to fight it with.

The local mayor greets us and tells us about the 2300 orphans now living in Wanyange, primarily with grandparents who can not provide for them. A few of these orphans offer up welcome songs and recite a poem "AIDS, what have we done to you?" which has us weeping with these beautiful young ones.

Bringing testing and counseling to Wanyange was the brainchild of Edward Semekoola, an HIV+ man who works for less than $60 a month as an AIDS home visitor. He had brought a sick man back to Wanyange to return him to his family to die at home. While there he discovered the complete lack of HIV testing, education or care. He pulled together his friends and they pooled their small earnings to buy HIV test stripes. They trained local women to "mobilize" from home to home spreading the word about testing. And so it started with just the good-hearted impulse of a few volunteers. In the first three weeks the lab had tested 320 people for HIV. Over 100 were positive.

This day, when it comes time to deliver the services that our team of volunteers promised the waiting throng, it turned out they could afford just 19 tests, which costs about $10. One hundred and fifty people were waiting patiently in a neat line that snaked along the hallways of the school for the test. Many had walked miles to get here. What to do?
"Sorry. Sorry. Stock out." A common experience here in Uganda. The people will to come back next Saturday in hopes that more tests can be done.

Piling back into the van we head into the eye of the AIDS epidemic. We are making home visits to a few people too sick to leave their homes. Driving over deeply rutted red dirt paths we stop near a grouping of one-room mud houses. A few chickens scatter and a small naked child shrieks at the white folks never before seen in this place. We move into a small dark room where slowly I can see a lump of crumbled sheets stained by the red dust on a tattered cardboard on the floor. The rapid breathing moves the sheet slightly. From behind emaciated sockets two eyes look out with a sense of holding on. They speak of patient resignation to a slow dying.
Aminah is 39 and lives with her four children and five AIDS orphans from her brothers and sisters who had passed away from AIDS. Her husband, David, returns from his bath with a towel around his boney shoulders. He is sick also but has never been tested for HIV.

A slow and gentle examination of Aminah's mouth, neck glands, and lungs reveals thrush, swollen nodes, and probably TB. It is likely that many or all of the inhabitants in this small space share TB. The neighbors were providing food. There is no money to take a public bus to town to the clinic. There is no clean water. There is no hope and nothing to do but give love. Aminah died the following week.

Arriving 10 minutes later at Dennis' home we see a nice middle class house with plaster and paint. The AIDS virus does not discriminate but takes the rich and poor alike. Dennis was one of the first to be tested. Looking at his thin frame it is not a surprise that his test was positive. Returning home he undertook the difficult conversation with his wife about his test. She turned from him, packed her things and left Dennis and their four children and three orphans. She has not been seen since.
"Dennis you must go for care in Jinjja to the government hospital. You must get a CD4 test and then you must get on medicine. You are still mobile…don't waste time…you are dying."

On to Mary's house which sits close to the shores of Lake Victoria. The fishing villages all along the coast of the lake are among the hardest hit by HIV. Seems the fishermen make their money all at once and go out on the town and engage in unsafe behavior. Then they bring home the virus.

Mary, only 30, is lying on the floor on a thin woven mat in her one room hovel. Her 9-year-old daughter, Adoch stands shyly watching in the doorway. Mary's husband died a year ago of AIDS. Last month her one and a half year old son also died. Mary was too sick to go to the burial and so the neighbors laid the baby to rest. The other children were sent back to the grandparents leaving Adoch to care for her mother until she dies. This woman needs hospitalization, food, and medicines. All of this is beyond her or Uganda's ability.

Finally we arrive at the modest house of Nam. She is standing up gesturing with her arms as if she is nailed to a cross. Her eyes glaze over and she mumbles prayers. She is probably suffering from dementia from the virus. She is so thin it is amazing she can move in such an agitated way. The previous day neighbors, who had never seen her act this way, tried to take her to TASO, an AIDS service organization in nearby Jinjja. After waiting several hours with hundreds of others in need of care and with a ranting Nam, they returned home, unseen and out of hope.

40 million people suffer from HIV worldwide. 28 million of these live in sub Saharan Africa. There is a heroic effort to "roll out" the life saving medicines, antiretrovirus (ARVs), and AIDS care throughout the world. This is an enormous and complicated task. It is being undertaken through the determination of the international community with the leadership of the United Nations, and many leaders in both the developed and developing countries. Individuals like Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, and Bono are all devoting themselves to this fight. Doctors and nurses are being trained, research is moving forward, and clinics are being built. But these efforts reach only 24% of the people that need AIDS care in Africa. These services and advances start in the cities and most Africans live in villages. How long will it be before AIDS care will make its way along dirt roads to reach Wanyange and other villages? Not fast enough for Dennis, Mary, Aminah, or Nam. Not fast enough for millions of others.

Wanyange still lies beyond the reach of the world's efforts to bring AIDS care. But perhaps now, through the efforts of a few volunteers and in partnership with BeadforLife the first waves of help are lapping at the shores of Wanyange. It is now at the edge of hope. Stay tuned to see what we can accomplish in Wanyange.