Martha (on the left) with a client

Martha is a committed and godly woman, a follower of Jesus Christ and living for many years in the infamous Nairobi slum of Kibera. A member of Mashimoni Friends Church, she conducts the church’s support program for people living with HIV and AIDS entirely on a volunteer basis even though she has no consistent source of income to support herself. The program has around 60 people enrolled, all of them Kibera slum residents, although the number varies from time to time as some members die and others are added. The program itself is constantly in need of funding, as it has no other source besides what can be made available through the church.

‘HOPE for AIDS – Kenya’ seeks to equip the Church for effective community-level AIDS ministries by training church and program leaders, such as Martha, with knowledge and skills that will maximize the impact and effectiveness of their efforts. It also seeks to build networks among churches with similar visions and like-minded NGOs including donor organizations. This fledgling program is just getting started but already it has established training programs for AIDS educators and for facilitators in building programmatic skills. Martha is a beneficiary of the AIDS educator training program. Here is a small sample of some people* whose lives Martha’s ministry has touched:

*Fictitious names given to maintain confidentiality.

Ruth*

Ruth is a 34-year old mother of six, ages 11 to 19 years. Ruth got “saved” in 1999 when her first husband died and she became concerned about her own eternal destiny. But there was very little change in her life at the time. Her church was not very supportive; especially after she found out she was HIV positive in 2001. At first she refused to believe it, but it was reconfirmed a year later when she contracted tuberculosis. Abandoned and rejected by her entire family, her own mother to this day fears even to touch her.

Somehow Martha learned about Ruth. She went and visited her in her home. She brought food and encouragement, prayed with her, and helped her get access to good medical care. She didn’t just preach the gospel, she demonstrated it. In time, Ruth responded. She became stronger and her health returned. She became active in church again. Her pastor knows her HIV status and is supportive of her.

Ruth is not very complimentary towards most AIDS programs she has encountered in Kibera. She believes they benefit the donors and the implementers more than they do those they are supposed to help.

So what can churches do? Ruth advises that because anti-AIDS drugs require good nutrition to work well, churches can help by providing food. They can also help to provide better access to adequate housing, sanitation and good health care, and by helping to meet the needs of orphans and vulnerable children.

Personally, Ruth would be grateful for help in starting a small resale business so she could support herself and her children. She wants to be able to help others the way that Martha and her small program have helped her. And if she could go “home” (her house was torn down and her land given to other family members), she would like to sensitize her former church and community about HIV and AIDS and the destructive effects of stigma and discrimination.

Eunice*

Eunice is a 40-year old widow with a grade 3 education living with HIV. Both parents have died and her only child has also died. Her husband died of AIDS in 2002. When she was known to be HIV positive she was abandoned by her extended family and left to fend for herself alone. Homeless, in failing health, abandoned and friendless, she was sleeping nights in a pit latrine when Martha found her. Martha befriended her, helped her to find a small room, paid the first month’s rent and took her to a clinic where she could obtain free anti-AIDS medications. Later, Martha also introduced her to Jesus Christ.

Today life is still hard. But Eunice’s health has greatly improved and she is able to find occasional odd jobs to pay the rent and buy a little food. Even more, her faith in Christ together with the acceptance and encouragement she has found in an AIDS-sensitive church are enabling her to face the difficulties of daily life and an uncertain future with new-found courage and strength.

Daudi*

Daudi grew up in a Christian home but converted to Islam three years ago because he observed that in contrast to Christians, Muslims were more “straightforward,” actually living in practice the behaviours they advocated.

He first married in 1994 and fathered three children, but in 2000 his wife began having frequent illnesses. She refused steadfastly to be tested for HIV. Daudi began getting sick the following year, and in 2002 he came down with TB. That was when he learned he was also infected with HIV. They separated the next year and she died in 2004, having never been tested. The children went to Uganda to be cared for by their grandparents. That same year he remarried, but that marriage lasted just one year. It was after the failure of his second marriage that he converted to Islam.

The problem was (and is), however, that the Muslim community of which he is a part widely perceives HIV infection as a sign of Allah’s displeasure and as proof of sin; so he cannot let any of his spiritual community know his HIV status. One of the most difficult things about living with HIV has been to have zero support from those who should be most supportive of him. In contrast, it has been AIDS-sensitive Christians like Martha who have been most active in reaching out to him and showing him compassion and acceptance. He is now actively involved in the support program, although still practicing Islam. Nevertheless, the love of Christ expressed in practical ways makes for a very powerful testimony, and one which may eventually bring home the wandering son.