I had witnessed for many years while growing up in Uganda, the immense destruction, insensitivity, and stigma caused by poverty and HIV/AIDS that affected even my own relatives. I developed an insatiable pursuit for answering one question that has fueled my dedication for the past decade: "What if we all loved each other?" With this dedication, in February 2007, Alive Medical Services (AMS) was born. Nearly into one decade; 2016,  AMS has become a cutting-edge, compassion and community-based clinic, and neighborhood hub in one of the poorest and most-populated areas of Kampala, Uganda, providing free, comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to those in need, with love and dignity. 

However, AMS's current impact was just a far-away dream in 2007. With very limited resources I just followed my heart and my firm belief that "no person should suffer from the injustices of HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty." But I did not know the challenges that my team and I would confront. The initial days of AMS could be described as “building the bridge while crossing it," as our small staff single-handedly attempted to fill the roles of receptionist, physician, nurse, counselor, and more. The patient load grew in an unprecedented way, from just 6 patients in 2007 to a staggering 7,000 patients three years later. Patients were dying and the stigma around HIV ran rampant at the height of the HIV epidemic in Uganda, so the needs of our patients were paramount to us. With the overflow of sick patients and very limited resources, we failed to prioritize monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Without an M&E officer and adequate technology, we manually kept data of our thousands of patients, and thus could not easily evaluate them in a structured way. 

One day a major partner visited AMS, and we humbly showed them our small facility and our work. However, it seemed as if the world suddenly halted when the CEO asked “How do you monitor and evaluate the quality of care you are providing for so many people? What do you use to track how many patients are active in care, lost to follow-up, or have died? Is there a way that you track loss to follow-up?” This moment was a wake-up call for us, when we realized in a tough way about our failure in carefully monitoring and evaluating its work. However, there was an important choice to make in that moment. Was AMS going to be overwhelmed and give up? Or was AMS going to learn from this hard lesson, persevere over this hurdle, and fail forward? 

Choosing the latter choice helped us realize just how much we have to learn. With a newfound “growth mindset,” our team owned up to this failure, created an action plan, and acted. I sought guidance from M&E and HIV/AIDS project experts and became determined to revamp AMS operations. With the help of consultants and more funding, AMS instated standard operating procedures, hired skilled staff, created an M&E Department, and invested in technology to move records to an online M&E system over a tough two-year period. This new structure increased AMS efficiency, confidence, and trust from important partners. 

Though this failure was tough during those days, it truly was a blessing in disguise. We learned to value reflection, knowledge, and feedback, and now continuous quality improvement is a way of life at AMS. With this story, we hope to encourage others to also embrace failure despite initial fear and vulnerability. 

This story is of just one example of how AMS has failed forward. By learning from our failures, AMS has gone from serving an initial 6 patients to over 13,000 clients today. AMS’s organizational model has since been adopted by the Uganda Ministry of Health and has been recognized nationally and internationally for outstanding HIV/AIDS care. Now AMS cannot imagine functioning without the M&E department that serves as AMS’s backbone and allows us to report to donors like you. I am amazed what this organization has become. Now I smile, knowing that if it was not for the gift of failure, none of this would be possible. 

Our partner’s questions a near-decade ago helped us transform our organization, and so we welcome your suggestions for AMS as well! It is with your support donations, promotions, and feedback that we continue to change the lives of thousands of people affected by HIV in Uganda. 

Thank you for believing in AMS and for being part of our journey in striving for an HIV/AIDS-free Uganda!