Creating a world of love and dignity

through provision of state-of-the-art medical services to the needy

CELEBRATING LOVE
At the beginning of February Alive Medical Services celebrated our 9th anniversary. There was a lot to
celebrate! We reflected on the organizations amazing growthfrom 6 patients to over 13,000and
honored the daily stories of health and triumph that emerge from our clinic. Throughout these 9 years love
has remained at the foundation of all AMS servicesfrom the childrens wing to the laboratory. At AMS,
we focus on sharing love with our patients, staff, community members, and supporters on a daily basis. At
the beginning of the year we decided to start Testimonies of Lovea project to share some of the everyday
stories, expressions, and acts of love that make our clinic such a special place. The idea for testimonies of
love emerged from AMS daily staff meetings. Every morning, before the clinic opens, staff members
gather to share prayer, song, laughter, and love. Staff members also use the opportunity to celebrate clinic
and patient accomplishments. Sitting among our staff members you hear testimonies about the impact that
loving, world-class medical care has made for our patients. These testimonies come from every
department: from youth who regained confidence in their peer-support group to mothers who celebrated
the birth of healthy, HIV-free babies. At AMS every day and every service begins from a foundation of
love.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Love & Dignity in Youth Care . 2
Success Story ........................... 4
Sunshine After Rain poem ...... 6
GlobalGiving Recognition ....... 7
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST
AMS celebrates the power of
providing HIV care with love
Learn about AMS Victors Club
Visit our website at :
www.amsuganda.org

Newsletter 05, April 2016

www.amsuganda.org

LOOKING FOR THE BEST WAY TO SHARE AMS LOVE?

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, visit our websites blog, and share our stories
with your friends and family!
Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without
leaving happier. - Mother Teresa
DR. PASQUINE OGUNSANYA
FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear friends,
I hope that this newsletter finds you and your loved ones
well. We are excited to share our updates, stories, and
recent recognition with you!
In this newsletter we are focusing on stories that
illustrate the transformative power of providing HIV
care, treatment, and support with love and dignity. AMS
has long known the importance of providing services
with love and dignity. Having just celebrated AMS 9th
anniversary, our vision and mission have always been
grounded in these core values. We believe that our
patients health and well-being is the ultimate testament
to the power of AMS loving care.
We appreciate your continued support and commitment
to sharing love with all of us here at AMS.
Together more lives will be saved!
Thank you,
Dr. Pasquine N Ogunsanya

THE HEALING POWER OF LOVE AND DIGNITY IN YOUTH CARE

In 2010 AMS launched the Victors Cluba youth-led peer support groupto provide a caring
environment where young people living with HIV can lend strength and comfort to one another. For 6 years
Victors Club members have shared stories, encouragement, and love and the results are clearAMS youth
have higher retention rates and viral suppression than the national averages. The Victors Club is helping
young people living with HIV access the support and confidence that they need to live healthy lives and
build bright futures.
In January AMS hosted a focus group discussion with Victors Club members to understand what made the
club successful. Throughout the discussion, Victors Club members emphasized the importance of the
unique love, support, dignity, and respect that they receive from their peers.

I have a family at Victors Club that has shown me love and given me hope for
a healthy future - Victors Club member and AMS patient
2

VICTORS CLUB
TESTIMONIES OF
LOVE:

Victors Club members discussed receiving unconditional love from

their peers and associated this absolute love with the ability to build
confidence. This confidence has allowed members to freely share
their experiences and reach out to the group when they face
challenges. This open and supportive environment allows members
to look after one another and provide important encouragement.
Being able to support each other has improved members treatment
adherence and provides them with a great sense of pride and
satisfaction . In fact, being able to help, guide, and support others
was consistently identified as a great source of honor and
importance.
Members also highlighted the respect that they received from their
peers. Sharing common experiences, challenges, and hopes has
created an environment of mutual respect among the members.
Additionally, the members talked about respect that they received
from AMS staff, who show interest and concern for the youths
personal lives and wellbeing. These genuine relationships provide
Victors Club members with a sense of dignity, safety, and comfort.
This discussion confirmed what the AMS team has long known
proving HIV care, treatment, and support with love and dignity
makes a measurable difference!

Getting a hug from one anotheryou

feel loved unconditionallypeople
really care about one another.
Victors Club youth leader and AMS patient

At AMS, my doctor is an
example of someone who has
treated me with dignity. She
gave me time when I had
clinic appointments and also
gave me a seat in her office.
She made me feel loved and
that I have value. When
someone sees value in you it
makes you see value in
yourself and your life. Youth leader
All the doctors are friendly
and talk to us like we are
mates. This is something so
rare and I am yet to see it
elsewhere. That has made me
feel loved. - Member
Seeing fellow peers in
Victors Club who have made
it or are looking good
encourages and motivates me
to adhere. - Member
I used to think love has to be
purchased. You need to do
something to be loved. But at
AMS and Victors Club you
are loved freelythe way you
are. I discovered that
everyone is worth loving. Member
3

HELP CREATE A WORLD OF

LOVE AND DIGNITY

SUPPORT AMS!

BELIEVING IN A BRIGHT FUTURE:

PATIENCES STORY OF SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND BUILDING A
HEALTHY FUTURE

An Early Struggle for Self-Acceptance

Globally, young women aged 15 to 24 continue to be the fastest
growing demographic for new HIV infections. According to
UNAIDS, young women account for 31% of new infections in Sub
-Saharan Africa. Alive Medical Services (AMS) has over 1,000
youth enrolled in HIV prevention, care, support, and treatment
services. Rather than representing a story of pain or helplessness,
our youth patients stories are composed of bravery and hope.

DONATE
To support the life-saving services and
dedicated team at Alive Medical Services
(AMS), please make a donation today via
our website (www.amsuganda.org) or via
our project pages on the GlobalGiving
website!
GlobalGiving: Search for Alive Medical
Services projects on the website
(www.globalgiving.org)
PAYPAL: Use the email
admin@amsuganda.org
In Uganda: Donate directly through
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK
UGANDA
Account name: Alive Medical Services
Account number: 8702813387901
Swift code: SCBLUGKA
Physical donations: Can be brought to
the AMS clinic

VOLUNTEER
Medical volunteers are always welcome.
Opportunities also exist for non-medical
volunteers. Please send your expression
of interest to:
admin@amsuganda.org

Patience, one of our youth patients and a leader in our youth-led

Victors Club, exemplifies this inner strength and courage. Through
a daring process of self-awareness and acceptance, Patience found
the resilience to build a healthy lifestyle for herself and inspires
other youth to do the same.
Patience discovered that she had HIV when she was just 16 years
old. After going to donate blood with a group of friends, she found
out that she was HIV positive when her blood had been screened.
After learning her status, Patience experienced a period of grief and
denial including initially refusing to believe the accuracy of the
test. She tried to convince herself that someone had made a mistake
and that she did not have HIV.
Shortly after learning her own status, Patience attended a World
AIDS Day rally. At the rally, she heard a woman speak about living
a healthy life while being HIV positive. When the woman testified
that she had lived with HIV for 25 years she caught Patiences
attention. If she can make it 25 years, I can make it even more than
that, Patience thought to herself. Patience used this attitude of
renewed hope and motivation to bring herself to Alive Medical
Services and to join the Victors Club, the AMS youth-led support
group.
Finding Hope and Building Strength
Patience now understood that it was possible to live a healthy life
with HIV, but she also knew that she still needed to find the
support and medical attention to realize that reality. When Patience
came to AMS the staff immediately welcomed her and she
immediately enrolled in the clinics free comprehensive services.
Additionally, Patience was introduced to the Victors Club, which
she joined with enthusiasm. Patience credits the Victors Club with
making a transformative difference in her approach to her own HIV
care and health.
Despite initially feeling a sense of fear and disbelief about the
virus, Patience has come to embody a sense of strength and
optimism through her involvement in the Victors Club.

Once empowered by her involvement in the Victors Club, Patience quickly began to give back to those
around her. She serves as a leader within the club, heading the fun committee and counselling other youth.
Patience affirms the power of the Victors Club, saying that the clubs role in her life has been really big,
because it makes me accept who I am and know that I have a future ahead. It gave me hope and helped me
to live positively.
An Emerging Leader
Since joining the Victors Club, Patience has continued to accept more responsibility and serves as a
recognized leader: providing mentorship to others and galvanizing members of the group for meetings and
other events. As vice chairperson of the fun committee, Patience has an important role in planning youth
days and other activities. However, beyond this formal position, Patience is defined by her upmost concern
for the comfort and wellbeing of others. Patience has taken it upon herself to make sure that all members of
the Victors Club feel the love and kindness that helped her to transform her life when she first joined the
group. She does this by ensuring that every new youth member feels warmly welcomed into the group.
Patience also draws on her own battle with self-acceptance to counsel other youth who are struggling to
accept their identity as a person living with HIV. Patience explains the importance of being able to share
her own lessons with others in order to provide a source of motivation. I think that if I have made it, other
people can also do it.

[The Victors Club] has been really big, because it makes me accept who I am
and know that I have a future ahead. It gave me hope and helped me to live
positively. - Patience
Coming Full Circle to Spread Love and Hope
While she is eager to support any Victors Club member, Patience gives special focus to newer members
who have just learned their status. It is this memory of her own initial struggle that drives Patience to
connect with and support new members. It was the Victors Club that introduced me to the world,
explains Patience. Now she is working to bring this world of support, love, and health to other members.
Patience offers unconditional support to her fellow Victors Club members, from meeting members in
various locations for counselling to providing her phone number to others in order to provide around-theclock support.
Patience believes that it is the loving care and sense of belonging that has helped her transform her life.
Without AMS and the Victors Club, Patience says that she would not have the support network or level of
health and confidence that she enjoys today. In fact, Patience no longer sees her status as a hindrance.
While she still has to deal with the challenge of living with HIV and feeling sick, she also recognizes the
benefits that she has gained. Patience explains how accepting her status and living with HIV has given her
greater self-knowledge and helped her build her confidence.
She has used this inner strength and resilience, developed through the love and support that she found at
AMS and the Victors Club, to continue overcoming challenges and pressing forward. Inspired by the
holistic care and love that she receives from AMS, Patience is currently pursuing a degree in social work
with the ambition to work as a counsellor at an HIV clinic. Patience says that after learning how to love and
accept herself, she wants to dedicate her life to sharing the gift of self-acceptance and empowerment with
other people living with HIV.

The Victors Club works alongside

AMS staff to realize its mission of
building hope among young
people living with HIV

SUNSHINE AFTER RAIN A POEM BY BIRUNGI ANGELINA, VICTORS CLUB MEMBER

Despair, fear, confused innocence is what filled me
I could not understand why mom had to leave me
Why I was sick all the time, why I could not play with friends
Why everyone was so cruel, why relatives whispered, She will be dying soon too
I kept asking myself, WHY? I did not have a clue it was AIDS
At the glimpse of death, as my fate came closer
I wondered helplessly in so much pain
Until one day, when I suddenly woke up
And there I was on this bed, with tubes running from my hands
When I looked up, I saw a white smile telling me, You are going to be just fine
Is this Heaven, Was that an Angel? I asked myself
NO! That was a Doctor, I was still ALIVE
Behold, I was at Alive Medical Services, and really ALIVE
With these wonderful people
They received me in so much pain, and now its no more
They treated me, brought me back to life, restored my HOPE
Oh! The joy that fills our hearts!
I now have great friends in the VICTORS CLUB
As the motto goes we care, these guys really CARE - its now a whole new family!
New life, new hope each day, new sunshine
Hmmm, we cannot put pen and paper to all the experiences
We will forever be grateful to the doctors, counsellors, and the entire AMS staff
Because of Alive Medical Services we are ALIVE and pursuing our DREAMS!

Geoffrey Nsabemaana,
AMS Clinical Officer

AMS CONTINUES TO BE RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE

AMS is proud to continue receiving recognition from donors for our high-impact, cutting-edge work. Within
the first quarter of 2016, AMS has been highlighted twice by GlobalGiving as a top organization. AMS
consistent hard work and your gracious support has continued to pay off! In 2015, our first year as a
GlobalGiving partner, AMS was ranked among the top 20% of partner organizations! This status highlights
the role that AMS continues to play on a daily basis as a leading organization in the fight against HIV as well
as the pursuit to create a more equitable world. The AMS team was honored to receive this award and is
motivated to continue providing top quality care on a daily basis.
In February AMS was honored again by GlobalGivingwhen we were chosen for a special Valentines Day
recognition. We were particularly excited about this timely recognition, given our deep commitment to
providing all of our services with love and dignity!
We would like to thank GlobalGiving for this recognition and all of our funders and supporters for their
encouragement. This award recognizes the dedication and commitment shared by the entire AMS family,
which includes youThanks!
To learn more about AMS projects and to contribute please visit:

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/comprehensive-hiv-treatment-for-12000-ugandans/

AMS PROGRAMS ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM: