If I kept it to myself - World YWCA

Young women intervene in a world with AIDS
Agnes Njeri Wanjiku
The issue of disclosure of HIV status, especially between
married couples, is very tricky. We have many cases of
discordant couples who suffer silently because they
fear rejection from spouses if they disclose their status.
My name is Agnes Njeri, a 27-year-old from
Kenya. I joined KENWA in 1999 after being a
care giver to my aunt who was a commercial
sex worker (CSW) and HIV positive. Because of
taking care of my ailing Aunt, my family wanted
nothing to do with me.
My family believed that my aunt had brought the
disease upon herself by doing sex work. To them
this was the consequence of immoral behaviour
and was therefore a much deserved punishment.
Despite this stigma I never gave up taking care
of her until she passed away December 26,
1999. My aunt had one son and a grandchild.
Unfortunately, the son was murdered one year
later. Through this experience, I felt it was my
duty to act as an ambassador in my community
to help people who are HIV positive through
counselling. Since October 24, 2004 I have been
the coordinator of KENWA’s drop-in-centre in
Mathare, where I have been reaching out to the
community.
The population in Mathare is around 700,000
people, and more than 150,000 people are HIV
positive. At the centre, we have 330 care givers
and 18 community health workers. The care
givers work on a voluntary basis and sometimes
we give them a small token of appreciation. The
feeding programme caters for 136 orphans and
vulnerable children. 110 of the children are in
school and 26 are under the age of five. We
feed them seven days a week, although due
to limited funding, we are only able to provide
breakfast and lunch. Some family members
claim responsibility for their relatives` children
as guardians, but some HIV positive people and
care givers are also parenting orphans.
Through KENWA we have managed to
provide vocational training in hairdressing and
dressmaking to young women. In my centre,
we took seven commercial sex workers (CSWs)
for vocational training, although unfortunately
two dropped out because of lack of interest and
commitment. We also gave two CSWs capital to
start small businesses and they are doing quite
well. 13 CSWs have also been introduced to
the Kenya rural enterprise project, which offers
micro-finance loans to KENWA members for
income generating activities.
Our centre has a young mothers’ club,
which mainly deals with fighting stigma and
discrimination, through songs, dance and drama
with messages specifically tailored to change
the behaviour and perceptions of people with
regard to HIV and AIDS related issues. The
young mothers meet every Saturday to share
experiences and encourage each other. During
sessions they are all given condoms, which
they later distribute in pubs, clubs and other
entertainment spots.
Beatrice Waithera is a young single mother
aged 24 years, with two children. She was a
commercial sex worker in Nairobi. I first met
with her in June 2004 at East Leigh, St Vincent
Antenatal Clinic in Nairobi where I had been
invited for a health talk session with expectant
mothers. She was then eight months pregnant.
Three days after meeting with Beatrice, she came
to Mathare drop-in-centre wanting to know more
about prevention of mother to child transmission
(PMTCT) because she had just learnt about her
HIV positive status. She gave birth just after
being introduced to the support group.
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