About TASAAGA
- TASAAGA's Mission
- TASAAGA's 5 year Objectives
- TASAAGA's Founder
- TASAAGA's History
- TASAAGA becomes an NGO
- TASAAGA launches volunteer program
TASAAGA's Mission
To alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression brought on by HIV/AIDS by helping Ugandans regardless of age, sex, or marital status, build secure, productive, and healthy communities.
TASAAGA's 2011-2016 Organisation Objectives/Goals
- To deliver a minimum of eight (8) HIV/AIDS education seminars and support activities to the rural fishing villages of the Ssese Islands each year, with the intent to promote positive attitudes towards HIV positive people, affected children, and their families and help break the cycle of HIV transmission.
- To establish and support one (1) new soccer youth club in townships that TASAAGA operates in each year under the Kick HIV/AIDS with Soccer Project. These clubs are essential for supporting positive behaviors and are an effective way to deliver and enforce messages in regard to living healthy lives.
- To directly contribute to the education of isolated island communities through the construction and support of a minimum of (two) 2 new schools.
- To establish and support a new OVC secondary school in Bwaise, an impoverished suburb of Kampala, offering vocational training to Ugandan youth brought up in extreme poverty and are unable to attend government or private secondary schools based on primary performance or financial restrictions.
- To establish and support ten (10) new micro-loan backed community cooperative businesses that support sustainable income generation for isolated Ugandan community members affected by HIV/AIDS.
- To establish a minimum of three (3) new Safe Birthing Centers for support of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMCT) of HIV in the Ssese/Wakiso Islands.
- To place a minimum of ten (10) international volunteers with TASAAGA projects or partners each year.
- To deliver a minimum of eight (8) community development education seminars and activities each year that help empower isolated, disenfranchised, HIV/AIDS affected communities to develop a voice of their own so they have the power to lobby and advocate for their interests and rights as Ugandan citizens.
- To create an online networking resource hosted on the TASAAGA website, consisting of TASAAGA partners, organisations with similar objectives, and government entities that work directly with or contribute to TASAAGA's mission, objectives, and projects.
TASAAGA's Founder
Tokamalirawo AIDS Support and Action Group Awareness (TASAAGA) is a non-government organisation founded in 1995, by a traditional
African healer, Mutebi Musa Tokamalirawo (Musa).
TASAAGA's History
In response to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, in 1989, from his small clinc, he began dispensing free herbal remedies to those affected by HIV/AIDS. In 1993, he was selected, along with 200 others, to partake in an HIV/AIDS education and counseling training, co-sponsored by the Ugandan Ministry of Health and THETA (Traditional and Modern Healthy Practitioners Together Against AIDS). This training inspired Musa to formalize his practice and form an HIV/AIDS support/education group.
As a herbalist, Musa had encountered many patients who believed that HIV/AIDS was something caused by sorcery or ancestral curses. Through the support group he
was able to educate people about the disease and correct them in their misconceptions.
In 1995, Musa founded the Tokamalirawo AIDS Support and Action Group Awareness (TASAAGA). The organisation started small, consisting of 10 members, but has grown in the past 15 years to hundreds. The original group, through music and drama, began to educate community members and other organisations about the HIV/AIDS virus at local community centers. Following each presentation a open public talk about HIV/AIDS was conducted.
TASAAGA Becomes an NGO
In 2002 Musa's son, Bruhan Mubiru, joined TASAAGA as the General Director.
Until that point TASAAGA was only operating in one area and was not an established NGO. Bruhan took TASAAGA to the next level by establishing it as a non-governmental organisation within his first year. As he moved away from the idea of just a community group, he expanded TASAAGA's reach, vision, and objectives to include community level economic, educational, and healthcare initiatives.
TASAAGA Launches Volunteer Program
In 2005 Bruhan launched the TASAAGA Volunteer Program. With an aim of placing international volunteers in the organisation's projects and communities where TASAAGA operates, as well as build resources, expand TASAAGA's reach, and create a funding source to support the organisation's operations. Since it's launch, TASAAGA has placed over 36 international volunteers from around the globe. Through their work, networking, and direct conttributions TASAAGA continues to grow and expand it's reach, meet objectives, and positively affect the communities in which it operates.