Upendo Village Update

January 2005

The children of Kenya are the hope of Kenya!

Upendo Village continues to bring hope and dignity to those living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya, Africa. Sister Florence Muia and her staff of five have provided home based care, nutritional supplementation, voluntary HIV testing and counseling (VCT), AIDS care giving and prevention education and emergency shelter for the many poor in and around Naivasha, Kenya. In addition to this, the 21 AIDS-trained community volunteers help to identify potential new clients, visit and assess needs of current clients and advocate for the many children orphaned by this pandemic.

Recently, Upendo Village began a support group for those with HIV/AIDS, their families and their caregivers. The main purpose of this group was to remove the isolation that often accompanies this highly stigmatized illness. The group meets twice a month, offering emotional and social support. Group therapy sessions are also offered. This kind of interaction and mutual assistance enables personal transformation and allows a level of sharing that many have been reluctant to do in the past.

We are thrilled to report that Upendo Village now has access to antiretroviral (ARV) medications. Through Sister Florence’s networking efforts with the nearby Naivasha Sub District Hospital, patients who qualify can now receive ARV’s under the Presidential Emergency Program For AIDS Response (PEPFAR). Pretreatment blood tests that are required cost about $17.30 and must be sent to the District Hospital of Nakuru, about 45 miles north of Naivasha. CD4 counts must be below 200 for the client to qualify for ARV therapy. Unfortunately, many people with counts below this level are already too ill to tolerate the medication. Sister Florence has communicated this concern to those running the program and to others who deal directly with clients. All agree with her that these criteria must be modified and through her efforts we hope that these treatments can soon reach many more people in need. Through the PEPFAR program, the ARV’s are provided at a cost of $6.70 per person per month. Although this sounds like a nominal amount of money to us here in the US, it is a large amount of money for those living in a poor country such as Kenya. It is good to see that the money allocated by the US congress in the past 3 years is beginning to reach those in such desperate need.

The staff at Upendo Village has also spearheaded an anti-rape campaign in Naivasha. They seek to end this form of violence against women and children which also has contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS. In the fall, three children who had been sexually abused by their father after the death of their mother took refuge at the Upendo Village shelter until they could be placed in a boarding school. Unfortunately, the father, who is HIV positive, had already infected one of the children with the AIDS virus. Upendo Village’s efforts are aimed at preventing such tragedies from occurring in the future.

In our September Upendo Village Update we mentioned that we are presently working out of a temporary location. We were fundraising in order to purchase land for a permanent site to house the emergency shelter, the small clinic, VCT programs, AIDS education and vocational training to help clients become self sufficient. We recently received word from Kenya that the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru has donated 3 acres of land to Upendo Village to be used for our permanent site. We are now in the process of obtaining the new title to the property. After this, the land will be fenced and Upendo Village will begin to obtain bids for the building of the multipurpose building, digging of a well and providing for defluorination and water purification for the drinking and cooking water. This is a very exciting time for Upendo Village. A generous donation has already been received to construct the building, and we are very grateful to the generous donor who provided this very special gift.

Thank you for your continued support for Upendo Village and the people of Kenya. Your concern and support continues to bring hope and life to many. 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

January 2005

Sr. Beatrice M. Hernandez, OSF,MD-Executive Director

E-mail: contact@upendovillage.org

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 449

Wheaton, IL 60189