“It all started with communities meeting to discuss and solve their problems” Fred Kintu, ActionAid’s Kalangala team leaders says.

The fishing nets help association of people with AIDS (Buyange HIV Development Society) to raise income which they use to purchase fuel for their new motorised boat and travel across to Kalangala once every week where voluntary counselling and testing services are offered.

“Most people could not afford to pay for transport to Masaka and Entebbe where people living with AIDS are referred to for treatment” Eliphaz Kakande, chairperson of Buyange HIV and AIDS society says.

Lack of regular transport meant that people could not access the testing and prevention services as they wished.

Previously the islanders relied on boats by businessmen and fishermen to access the main island of Kalangala where they get most of their essential services.

“But most people with AIDS could not afford the prohibitive transport costs charged by the business-people and fishermen,” Kakande says.

Buyange is one of the many islands scattered across Lake Victoria at the brink of decimation by HIV and AIDS. But local people are not relenting in their efforts to turn the tide against AIDS and lead better lives.

Kalangala, the home district of Buyange has an AIDS prevalence rate of 30 percent, four times more than the national average of 6.5 percent.

ActionAid has been supporting Buyange AIDS Society to increase awareness and prevention of HIV and AIDS and provide care to those infected.

“Because of our work many people are now joining the society,” Kakande said.

The society is currently supporting 28 people who are positively living with HIV and AIDS and 14 orphaned children.

ActionAid supports the community to discuss and find solutions to their own problems through a methodology called Stepping Stones and Reflect (STAR).