TwoHelp Kenya

Leaving Nairobi

After a few delays, the team from HHI and Fritz is leaving Nairobi.  Our first stop is Kisumu, and the local towns of Siaya and Busia.  They are in western Kenya, near Lake Victoria.

We will then visit Mombasa, Malindi, Nakuru, and Garissa over the course of the next two weeks.  Issues that we encounter change from community to community.  Our first stop, in Thika, was partially struggling due to poor Red Cross facilities.  The Red Cross branch that we visited today, Karen - Langata (named after Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame) claims to have some areas near them that have an HIV prevalence of 70%.  Yes, supposedly 7 out of 10 people there are infected with HIV. 

How should a community even begin to approach the problem of providing prevention and treatment services to an area with such a high prevalence?  Yet, a cadre of unpaid youth volunteers tirelessly campaign in schools and around the neighborhood to educate the population about the true nature of HIV and how it is transmitted, and the virtues of abstinence and condom usage.  Incest and rape are serious problems at that branch, where over 10 new cases of incest are reported to the local officals each day — just imagine how many cases aren’t reported.

In the end, there is hope.  The youth volunteers are empowered by the training at the Kenya Red Cross offices and are role models for the community.  It is telling of their success in their campaign that the most popular club at almost all of the local schools is the Red Cross club.  The word is spreading, and the youth volunteers of the Kenya Red Cross Society are the people at the front lines.