Kikuyu Dispensary

Saturday October 1, 2005
Group meeting at the Kikuyu Dispensary...
Mrs K and I went on Friday to pick up someone who would hopefully take us to visit 10 families/people living with HIV. We had prepared all that we could from our food supply—about 6 bags of rice, beans, ugali and cooking oil. I finally found some 1 L containers at the market that morning. When we arrived at the dispensary though we were told that most of the people with HIV were coming to meet the following morning and to pick up some food donated by the government (which comes every 3-6 months); when we arrived we went to the office which had the food stored there. There was only enough for 10 people (of two items-ugali and sugar). So we decided to go to the market and use some of our funds to supply what would be needed to give the 25 people with HIV some more adequate food for the following day. This turned out to be the group Manese had met with a week back and discussed how we could work together, help each other. This was the group whose chairperson committed suicide this summer out of despair—(I wrote about this in a previous blog).

In the car Mrs. K and another teacher talked about the situation of one of their friends. There is a girl who is being taken care of by her aunt because her parents died (from HIV-AIDS) and she is now in Standard 7 (age 13)—the last year of primary school before Secondary school (Form 1-6). She is very bright and her teachers want her to pursue secondary school. The problem is, she has HIV and they don’t want to tell her because they are afraid of her reaction and that she might commit suicide----but they are afraid if they don’t tell her and she goes to secondary school, there is a chance she could spread the virus especially if she doesn’t even know she is a carrier. So they are in a very difficult position. What if I was 13 years old and one day my aunt told me that I had HIV? What would I do? They asked me my advice and I told them they should inform the girl. One woman thought no way, it’s too difficult.

Somehow though, they will need to tell her…from a loving, trusting person, who can convey the support and care that they will continue to give her, and counseling to help her know how to take care of herself. The time has to come eventually, and I think it is always going to be difficult to tell the girl. I can’t imagine what I would be thinking if that’s what I was told tomorrow…some of these situations are way too difficult.

Today, Saturday, we went to Kikuyu area to meet with some people in the community who are living with HIV/AIDS or are taking care of orphans. They are a group that came into existence two years ago. Their aim is to help and support each other. All members except for a few are HIV positive. Their total number is about 25. They decided to meet together to try and figure out how they may assist each other and solve some of their problems. Every month they contribute 400 shillings for a fund to pay for the things that they need. (that’s 40 cents each---that’s under 5000 shillings-5 bucks). They are trying to contact donors but haven’t really been connected yet. They receive some money from the government (and some food). The group is trying to encourage those they know to be tested for HIV so that they can be treated if necessary.

One of the main problems that they talked about was the inability to get food. For many people this was an even greater struggle as they were taking care of AIDS orphans (an old grandmother who came is taking care of 6 children). If people can’t get food and eat, then they can’t pay school fees for their children or orphans, and the children remain at home. Although primary school is free---there are always things that need payment—clothes-uniform, shoes, exercise books, other school fees—etc.

They stated that when they receive food, they are able to send their kids to school—they do not have to worry as much about making ends meet. It’s very important that when one is infected with HIV they need a good diet to help them fight off health problems. When they have little food and their children can’t go to school, they said some people express how they would rather die than go through the despair and humiliation of their situation---they themselves and their families can suffer from severe psychological problems because of the weight of their difficulties…

So now this group is looking for ways to be trained in becoming more self-sufficient, hoping to start some projects (chickens and cows) so that they can increase their funds, and have a more balanced diet, and their children can go to school. Now they are looking for donors to help them start these projects….

Another important comment they made was that they also needed assistance and help in having enough money for medical testing and checkups, including CD4 tests.

This community group in Kikuyu also talked about the stigma that many of them face. It was harder to find work for example if it was discovered that one had HIV. It’s very very difficult to be open at times because of the reactions from others that those suffering will face. That’s why people are silent, that’s why people deny it, that’s why people don’t always want to be tested: ignorance seems better; and if the church, or anyone else condemns you then you are bound to feel even more rejected and isolated. There were a few people who seemed uncomfortable with us newcomers being there. (Both pastors accompanied us, as well as one of our counselors, and a friend of Mrs. K). They are afraid it will attract unwanted stigma or attention to them.

We told them that we can’t solve all the problems, but we can try to support and partner with them in the future to help with some of their needs---particularly in providing food relief, and hopefully some educational assistance (creating some kind of orphan fund). I am really interested in their ideas for community projects. It’s a great idea and I would like to see how it could work and be used elsewhere. People are amazing here in their amount of resilience to find ways to solve their problems and help each other. We told them that although we cant do everything, we wanted to give the food to encourage them and make sure they know that there are people out there who want to support them, pray for them, and give what we can. Many of them expressed deep thanks, and that they were very very happy we came to give and to state our support. One woman stated that she was a widow, and HIV positive. She had come to know her situation after her husband died in 2003, 4 years after he had come to know he was positive. But she said she needed encouragement and was happy to see us to know people care. She said, “I have hope. I have hope to face the reality, and hope in God to go far.”

Housemates…
I found out today that the parents of one of the beautiful girls who stays with us died from AIDS. She is just two years younger than me, 21 years of age. She is a gorgeous and smart girl (she teaches nursery school at the church) and came to stay here with her aunt’s family after her parents died... She has never talked about it yet, I found out she was an orphan (as of a year and a half ago) in some other conversations with people. Story of the sheets.

I heard a story the other day from Zambia, about a man with HIV who received a bag of items to help him take care of himself: soap, vitamins, food, a pair of sheets…he decided to save the sheets so that he could be buried in clean sheets when he died. People are buried, wrapped in sheets when they die, so sheets are a valuable item. Some people are even dug up out of the ground in order to steal sheets because some people cannot afford to buy them. So instead of using the sheets, he decided to save them until he died.

At home...
A friend Joyce came over last night….She is wild and crazy... She works at a youth project here for HIV AIDS awareness. She told me that really, I need to marry a Tanzanian man because she thought I fit in here and in her own words, I’ve got the “woman mantles”—that means the full Bantu butt, thighs, legs, a “neck like a giraffe?”, dancing rhythm, and I move/walk like a chameleon…she said some other stuff I can’t remember but the butt comment topped the list in my memory flow chart…should I be flattered?

Rats...
We have had quite the adventure of killing the rats that live in our house the last couple days. After too much banging and crashing of pots in the kitchen like a discotheque we decided that we “got to do something about that duck.” So we added some poison to some nicely laid out rice on the floor which has caused many rats to be found dead on the floor every morning. Oh what a beautiful morning. Now we can smell a dead one but can’t find it darnit.

(for those who have ears to hear, from Cairo days remember ‘dis:
“dance to the beat of the rhythm of the Nile, Egyptians dance to the rhythm of the Nile, dance to the dance to the dance to the beat, mystical, magical….. let’s dance....)