10th August, 2009
By Agnes Kyesimira Namaganda - Kampala
There have been so many firsts in the life of HIV/AIDS activist Noerine Kaleeba.
The 58-year-old was one of the first people to openly come out to criticise the stigma towards people who were living with HIV/AIDS. And together with 15 other colleagues, most of whom had HIV, she founded The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) among the first NGOs that did a commendable job in fighting the disease.
She became the first chairperson of TASO and helped it grow in leaps and bounds into a reference point all over the world in the fight against AIDS. Ten years ago, Ms Kaleeba was the first woman and the first African as well to be elected as the chairman of the international board of trustees of the prestigious Action Aid international. ActionAid International is an international development organisation based in 47 countries.
Once again, on June 25, Ms Kaleeba had another first when she became the first African to receive the knighthood of Italy — the Italian government’s equivalent of Britain’s knighthood which most Ugandans are familiar with. And with this came a new title-Dame, that comes with her name.
Speaking about the new accolade that she received on the day she was handing over at ActionAid, she said: “I come from a humble background and it doesn’t change who I am but it gives me a sense of achievement. “These recognitions are for the people with whom I have worked, attributable to the people who have given me the opportunity to show the world that there’s dignity after AIDS. I received it on behalf of all my children – biological and not – to show that you can turn a tragedy into an opportunity, for others and for yourself. Just look at how many people are accessing treatment.”
The award did not come with any monetary benefits but to Ms Kaleeba, “it is very prestigious and proves that, we, Africans are able to endure against all odds. We have been devastated but we can survive.” The award was in honour of the work she has done in bringing a difference to people’s lives during her tenure as chairman of Action Aid and it was the organisation that nominated her for the award. And they sent a write-up justifying the recommendation.
Her most outstanding achievements as chairman – a voluntary job that automatically makes you an overall policy leader – were expanding the organisation from being UK-based to an international level, growing from a membership of 22 countries to 47 countries.
Choice is not based on the write-up alone. The government does its own research which takes a year. And it was the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who handed it to her.
It comes with the freedom to travel visa-free to all the 16 Schengen countries like Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, France and Belgium. But Kaleeba is not planning to travel to any of these countries. “When I was younger, I would have been exhilarated to go and live outside Uganda; it’s what every young person wants but now, I want to stay here.”
On an equally good note, Kaleeba received a doctorate in international relations from the University of Switzerland two days later on June 27. This is her third doctorate, having received her first — a doctorate in human relations from Nkumba University and another, a honorary degree of doctorate of Laws, from the University of Dundee in Scotland.
Kaleeba attended Mt. St Mary’s Namagunga for all her senior secondary school from where she went to Mulago’s School of Physiotherapy. As a student physiotherapist, she met her husband, who was a radiographer at Mulago Hospital and they later got married in 1976.
She proceeded to the United Kingdom where she studied a postgraduate in Orthopaedics Physiotherapy. She came back and studied another postgraduate degree as a trainer in physiotherapy from Makerere University and became the principal of the school of physiotherapy in Mulago in 1982. Then her husband fell sick and was diagnosed with HIV in June, 1986. He died on January 23, 1987 — leaving her with four young girls. The oldest was eight and the youngest was three. But while on his hospital bed, the couple had set up an initiative to start a support group together with 14 other people.
However, it wasn’t until November 1987 that TASO was officially born. Kaleeba resigned from her duties as principal that same year and digressed to community development and AIDS activism on becoming the first executive director of TASO. She retired after 10 years at the helm.
She was then offered a job in UN with UNAIDS as a partnerships and communities’ mobilisation advisor, focusing on Sub-Saharan African with Geneva as her duty station. She worked there for 10 years and then resigned two years ago. But she was doing this job together with her voluntary work at UNAIDS.
It is only recently that Kaleeba confirmed that she was HIV negative and had thus been discordant with her late husband. “I am glad that I was not sure of my status for a long time. I lived, planned and worked as if I had HIV. It does not matter whether you are sick or not what matters is are you spreading the virus you have, and if you don’t have it, are you exposing yourself,” Kaleeba says of how she managed not to stay safe even with the assumption in mind that she had HIV.
Kaleeba muses that Ugandan men are such freaks. She wants to date and find someone to grow old with but none is forthcoming. “It is difficult to grow old alone because my children are going to grow and leave (already her four biological children have left). If I find someone I like who is passionate about corruption, justice and loves children, then why not?”
But even in her retirement, Kaleeba is not redundant. She provides mentoring to students of Makerere School of Public Health, Ministry of Health, as well as guidance to TASO where she is a patron. She also works voluntarily as a director of AMREF.
She is also helping to put up two schools in her neighbourhood of Ttakajunge in Mukono because of the passion she has of giving hope to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
She has a dream of linking young accomplished men and women as pen pals to disadvantaged children in rural areas. “These children need someone to look up to other than their mothers and fathers who may not be able to inspire them enough to achieve.”
