Upendo Village Update
February 2008
The Upendo Village Clinic became a center of ministry to those suffering from the recent violence that erupted after the December 2007 Presidential elections in Kenya.
As most of the world rang in the New Year 2008 with celebrations and merriment, Kenya experienced an outbreak of civil unrest following the December 2007 presidential elections. What started as protests over what some perceived as irregularities in the election process and vote counting quickly turned into violent ethnic clashes. The violence reached the town of Naivasha on January 1st and worsened over subsequent weeks, leading to many deaths and injuries. Sister Florence Muia and her staff sprang into action, assisting refugees who were burned out of their homes and had sought refuge in the local police compound and the Naivasha prison. Eventually, the Red Cross arrived bringing much needed food and water and again Sr. Florence was called upon to assist them in organizing the relief supply distribution. Just as Sr. Agnes, RN was running out of medicines in our Upendo Village (UV) pharmacy, Doctors Without Borders arrived with medical personnel and with medicines. While Sr. Agnes helped them tend to the wounded and sick, Sr. Florence assisted local officials and the Red Cross in trying to relocate people so that they would have adequate sanitation, food, water and shelter. The rainy season had already begun to turn the ground to mud, making the tent camps set up by the Red Cross all the more crucial. The call to the Red Cross and to the Kenyan government for body bags needed to transport the dead for burial was a grim testimony to the more than 80 people lost to the violence in Naivasha. With the violence came a paralyzing fear that has gripped the people, robbing them of their usual welcoming smiles and gracious generosity to one another. Grief counseling and assisting families with identification of the dead have become the sad tasks occupying Sr. Florence day after day. Thankfully, the violence is now subsiding. We ask all of you to pray for healing and reconciliation so that Kenyans can once more come together as one people to rebuild their lives and their country.
(for information http://www.wheatonfranciscan-jpic.org/jpicofficeblog.html )
Sister Agnes, RN quickly exhausted the medicines in the Upendo Village pharmacy caring for the sick
and injured.
In the midst of the recent strife, good things continue to happen thanks to the generosity of our many supporters. The new Kenyan school year has started, albeit a month late due to the unrest. In 2008 UV has 51 students sponsored for school, compared to 13 in 2007. Of these, 34 are in primary school, 15 in secondary school and 2 in college! This includes 5 sponsored by DT Dobie employees—a local Kenyan company. On December 4th UV hosted an academic day where sponsored children from 2007 and those sponsored for 2008 came with their guardians to celebrate the closing of the school year and to anticipate the coming 2008 academic year. Grades were reviewed and showed that over 75% had done well in their studies, despite the turmoil and losses each had experienced in their young lives. Those not maintaining a C or higher average were encouraged to work harder in order to stay in the program.
Their smiling faces show these children’s happiness at being able to continue in school.
Upendo Village’s Kids’ Club (children’s support groups for those ages 4-17) continues to grow with 18 participating in December. They meet during the school break times. Fourteen of the participants are on antiretroviral (ARV) medications and all are doing very well thanks to the continued success of our nutritional supplementation program. One such success story is that of Patrick. At the age of 12 he is an orphan living with an aging grandma. Sister Florence and her staff came to know him in 2004 when he was emaciated and bedridden. His body weight was 11 kgs at 9 years old. He was placed on our nutritional supplementation program and even before he could be started on ARV’s, he bounced back to life and started walking. In 2007 he was 30 kgs and the skin lesions he had before had disappeared. We thank our donors who donate so generously to enable us to purchase food, especially the “miracle flour” put together from 7 locally grown grains by our dietician Catherine, to benefit the clients whose immune system has been compromised by HIV and opportunistic infections.
Community consciousness raising about HIV/AIDS continues through events planned and carried out by the clients and staff of UV. On December 1st, World AIDS Day, the members of our Karai support group opened their meeting with a prayer service to remember those infected and affected by HIV, as well as those who have died because of this deadly epidemic. After some moments of silence the group processed into the street to the nearby Kayole market, chanting songs and carrying banners advocating AIDS prevention. Many people at the market stopped to take in the AIDS education information. Afterwards, the group shared a meal together before departing for home, confident that their participation had touched many lives that day.
We continue to build a global village of love that values the life and dignity of each person and reaches out to meet the challenges of HIV/AIDS. Our prayers go out to the people of Kenya. We pray for peace and reconciliation.
Thank you for your support for Upendo Village and the people of Kenya. Your concern and solidarity bring hope and life to many. Together we continue to work toward the day when the people of all the countries of the world will be able to live healthy and happy lives.—
Beatrice Hernandez, OSF, MD
Upendo Village, NFP.
HIV/AIDS Women Project-Kenya
Sr. Florence Muia, ASN – President
Sr. Beatrice M. Hernandez, OSF,MD-Executive Director
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 449
Wheaton, IL 60189
E-mail: contact@upendovillage.org
