In the late80’s and early 90’s, Uganda began to contend with a problem far different from the governance related hiccups in its immediate post-independence past. That problem swept through the nation with an all-consuming ferocity not previously experienced. That problem, that this young nation would struggle with for the foreseeable future, was HIV/AIDS.
Due to the limited understanding of the disease as purely and exclusively sexually transmitted, in a largely religious and superstitious young country, one can understand how the perceptions towards sufferers was skewed in the negative sense. The high (almost absolute) mortality rate related to the disease did not help matters and natives would not be caught dead touching or engaging with HIV positive individuals even if provided with a long stick with which to do so. Stigma was the order of the day.
It is in that context that Dr. Stephen Watiti came to contract the fearsome HIV purportedly during the conduct of some kind of medical practise. This opened the door to all the attendant negative stigma imaginable; alienation by close friends and family, scepticism from church folk and general disorder in domestic and professional life, not to mention the actual debilitating effects of the disease.
The reason this story is important for any Ugandan native is particularly because it offers a hopeful narrative that is demonstrated so powerfully by the devout Doctor, who struggled against seemingly insurmountable odds to conquer the disease and the toxic narratives and mind-set that have accompanied it for so many years. He has dedicated his story and the bulk of his medical career to advocacy and treatment of the disease and still remains the most shining example of living positively.
The prose is reasonable, written in an upright and honest way, enough that the emotions of the book end up being felt. The short length of the book somehow does not seem to sacrifice the potency of the message and for those that like good endings, this is one of them. In one way or another, every Ugandan individual has been affected by the scourge of HIV/AIDs and on that basis, should read this book.
4.0/5
Due to the limited understanding of the disease as purely and exclusively sexually transmitted, in a largely religious and superstitious young country, one can understand how the perceptions towards sufferers was skewed in the negative sense. The high (almost absolute) mortality rate related to the disease did not help matters and natives would not be caught dead touching or engaging with HIV positive individuals even if provided with a long stick with which to do so. Stigma was the order of the day.
It is in that context that Dr. Stephen Watiti came to contract the fearsome HIV purportedly during the conduct of some kind of medical practise. This opened the door to all the attendant negative stigma imaginable; alienation by close friends and family, scepticism from church folk and general disorder in domestic and professional life, not to mention the actual debilitating effects of the disease.
The reason this story is important for any Ugandan native is particularly because it offers a hopeful narrative that is demonstrated so powerfully by the devout Doctor, who struggled against seemingly insurmountable odds to conquer the disease and the toxic narratives and mind-set that have accompanied it for so many years. He has dedicated his story and the bulk of his medical career to advocacy and treatment of the disease and still remains the most shining example of living positively.
The prose is reasonable, written in an upright and honest way, enough that the emotions of the book end up being felt. The short length of the book somehow does not seem to sacrifice the potency of the message and for those that like good endings, this is one of them. In one way or another, every Ugandan individual has been affected by the scourge of HIV/AIDs and on that basis, should read this book.
