Safari zangu katika Afrika ya Mashariki

Women Fighting Against Aids in Kenya (WoFAK)

Today, we visited WoFAK, a CBO in Nairobi that helps women and families who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Today, 7.4% of Kenyans live with HIV, and 3 out of 5 of those infected are women. WoFAK was founded in 1993 by a group of women who were living with AIDS and dealing with the stigma of HIV/AIDS. They have programs that give financial and psychological support to women who are HIV positive, that help AIDS orphans (some of whom are HIV positive themselves), and outreach programs for prevention and testing. WoFAK does not distribute ARV's (Anti-Retroviral Drugs), but they recommend women to places they can obtain ARV's cheaply or for free. They do house a pharmacy where WoFAK members can have access to cheap drugs to cure common opportunistic infects and have a food basket program to help feed especially needy families. We met with some of the counselors and administrators in the WoFAK office based in the Eastlands (in Nairobi). Then, we split off into groups to visit some of their clients that lived in the Eastlands.

My group was the last to be dropped off. After driving for 15 minutes on rough, bouncing, dirty paths, we stopped outside of a single story building. Mama Mary and one of the WoFAK counselors came with us, and led us into the building. We walked down a long, narrow hallway where women were washing and hanging clothes to dry. About halfway down the hallway we turned into one of the rooms, which was the home of one of the WoFAK clients. The room was about 10 feet by 10 feet, but the bed, which was curtained off with holed fabric, took up most of the room, and had no running water. Inside we met a woman, her sister, and two young children. One was just an infant, and the other was about 2 years old. We sat down and talked to the woman about how she lives and has been affected by AIDS. She did not speak any English, so Mama Mary translated for us.

She was 40 years old, even though she looked like she was in her late 20's, and had two sons, one in the 8th grade, and the other was the infant she had with her. She had her first child out of wedlock, and her second child with her husband. About two and a half years after she married her husband (in 2008), she became very ill, and lost a lot of weight. At her worst, she weighed only 31 kilos (about 68 lbs). She was tested three times, and all three times the test said that she was HIV positive, but it was not until the third test that she accepted that she had AIDS and needed to start getting help. When she told her husband that she had AIDS, he left her along with her two children. She has tested both of her children, and they are both HIV negative, although she still worries about them and plans to get them re-tested in several years. Her husband refused to be tested.

In addition to being HIV positive, she is undergoing her second round of TB therapy. (Tuberculosis is HIV's favorite opportunistic infection.) The two months of her TB therapy included a very strong oral pill and simultaneous injections. Now, she is on a milder pill therapy. She receives her TB treatments and well as her ARV's for free from the local missionary. She currently takes a cocktail of three ARV's daily. The combination of all of these drugs is extremely hard on her body, and she needs to eat well in order to take all of these medicines. She receives a food basket Monday through Friday from WoFAK, to help support her nutrition and the nutrition of her children. Without proper nutrition, ARV's and TB treatments effectively act as poison. Even though she is able to eat well when she takes her medicines, they make her feel ill and weak for a hour or so after she takes her daily doses. But, she said that without the drugs, she feels intense pain in her joints and bones, and feels as if "her bones are dying."

Since she does not have the energy to work, her family has no income for food, rent, and water.

Since her husband left her, her brother has taken over the rent of their one-room house. The rent is only 2,500 Shillings (about $33) per month and includes electricity, but they can barely afford it, and so she is trying to find a less expensive place to live. Since they do not have running water in their room, they have to buy jerry cans of water from the local borehole, which is contaminated by the sewage and trash. So, they use water purifier (also free at the local mission) to sanitize their water.

Despite all of her hardships, she was a very strong, very kind woman and thanked us profusely for coming to visit and speak with her. She was very open about her situation and asked us to not be shy and to ask her as many questions as we wanted.

Leaving her house, I had to use all of my willpower to not burst into tears. We walked out of the house and was greeted by 10 or so children who waves and stared at us. Then we boarded the bus and began the bumpy ride to pick up the other groups.

On the bus, people shared about the different families and women that they visited. One group visited a woman who had three children, ages 2, 5, and 9. She, her husband, and all three children were HIV positive. The wife and the children were receiving ARV's, but the husband refuses to take his ARV's when he is feeling healthy, and old takes them when he is feeling sick (which only builds drug resistance). When they first discovered that their family was HIV positive, none of the neighboring children were allowed to play with their children, and so they had to move. Now that they have found a new home, they are facing eviction, and so are one again looking for a new place to live. The wife also has Tuberculosis

A third group visited a home of an older mother with two daughters. Within the month, both daughters had returned to their mother's house and told their mother that they are both HIV positive (the mother is not HIV positive). The older daughter had a 15 month old son, who was also HIV positive. This past month she became very ill, and her husband left her, saying "go to your mother's until you are better." She also has Tuberculosis. The younger daughter had know she was HIV positive for a long time, and has been on ARV's for over 5 years.

Kenyan Police

Driving around Eastlands today our matatu, Jazz, was stopped 3 different time by Kenyan police. All three times, there was no obvious violation, the police were just looking to be paid off. I guess a magenta bus full of wazungu's stands out. The first time, we were stopped by a woman policeman who searched the outside of the bus and then entered the bus to make sure that every seat had a working seatbelt (even though we never wear seatsbelts...). We were stopped two other times, the last time at the same exact corner, but by a male cop this time. Mama Mary said that they were just looking for bribes, and that the policemen bosses except police to return each day with a chunk of cash.

After all of this excitement… we returned to our school on the other side of Nairobi just in time for Swahili class...

Jazz: Our Magenta Matatu