New Hope for Kenya?

As the HIV/AIDS crisis continues to strike countries in Africa, families in Kenya struggle for survival

AIMS News: Posted 12/1/2005

John sat with a memory box in his hands. Inside, he looked at photos of his family: Three of his wives were now gone, and just three weeks before, he had buried his 13-year-old daughter in a shallow grave behind his home in western Kenya - all victims of AIDS. In the box, he included his identification papers, some of his childrenís baby clothes, and a handwritten story about his family. It was the only legacy he would be able to leave for his two remaining children.

After John's eldest son ran away, survival was even more difficult. His two remaining daughters, ages four and eight, gathered the firewood, cooked the meals, and washed the dishes. John knew he wouldnít be with them much longer. Suffering from the final stages of AIDS, John couldnít even afford the 55 cent fare to a free clinic three miles away for treatment. Instead, he fought with every breath to survive for what was left of his family.

Home to 60% of the worldís AIDS population, Africa is filled with families just like this one. Parents and children suffering from AIDS die daily in the Sub-Saharan regions of the continent, leaving family members struggling for the basic necessities. In Kenya alone, 2.1 million people suffer from AIDS, and more than 700,000 children have been left orphaned by the disease (1).

"This disease has become a silent disaster most refuse to recognize," wrote Patrick Johnstone, author of Operation World (1). "Churches shy away from dealing with the desperate moral and social crisis of this national calamity."

When "Deborah," AIMS HIV-AIDS Coordinator, met John and his family on a recent trip to Kenya, her heart broke for them and the millions of other families struggling desperately to simply survive. She gave him the money to begin his treatments, but she knew she had to do more. She began to look for ways to help the established church in Kenya serve this neglected problem.

But the situation in Kenya is not hopeless. While in the country, Deborah visited a small Kikamba village that was totally mobilized to fight AIDS. The leaders had not only trained the villagers how to care for persons affected with the disease, but they trained them how to teach other villages to do the same. They even had a system to map all the AIDS orphans in the area. "The community was dirt poor," wrote Deborah in a recent report, "but they were very actively working together."

Deborah helped her partner, Terri, locate several non-governmental programs that are trying to combat the AIDS situation in Kenya. They met individually with each of the directors. Two have already approved for Terri to work with them for three months beginning in February. As Terri learns more about how agencies are dealing with the epidemic, she and Deborah will evaluate other opportunities to help them develop their programs.

Deborah has helped national agencies and medical professionals in Ukraine and Ethiopia develop more effective programs to educate people in these countries how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and how to care for individuals already suffering from the disease.

(1) Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World: When We Pray, God Works, 21st Century Edition (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster USA) 2001, pp. 382.

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