H
H U
AIDS
WATCH
How grassroots women’s groups in 12 urban & rural
communities across Kenya are managing the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
OVERVIEW
Community AIDS Watch was an initia-
tive of GROOTS Kenya to document
the work of grassroots groups and
their communities around the coun-
try. The project was coordinated by
GROOTS Kenya in collaboration with
the Huairou Commission, GROOTS
International, AFRUS AIDS and New
School University in America. It fo-
cused on people in 12 urban and
rural communities across Kenya who
are responding to the HIV/AIDS pan-
demic with or without financial sup-
port.
A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT
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A II R
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Kenya
OBJECTIVE
The overall objective of the Commu-
nity AIDS Watch was to showcase the
community-driven, women-led ap-
proaches to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
It also documented the challenges
communities face in doing this work
and the resources they require to
fight the pandemic. While working to
find out from community people
what they think their priorities are,
the Watch also sought out factors
that helped and/or hindered their
ability to effectively respond to HIV/
AIDS.
FEBRUARY 2005
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PROCESS
From June 3 to July 23, 2004, twelve
students from the United Sates
joined six Kenyan students and
community leaders to meet with
community groups, make home vis-
its, meet with local government rep-
resentatives and learn about the
basic conditions facing the communi-
ties throughout Kenya. the fifth and
final day as spent in a community
workshop, in which members of each
of the groups came together to ver-
ify the information collected and to
network.
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based care through the GROOTS
A Huairou Watch GROUPS Kenya trainers of trainers program.
is a group based, on-the-ground Because those living in Mathare have
evaluation project for both visitors All of the groups are self-sustaining. relatively greater access to govern-
and visited. Those who participate - Although many of them have small ment and NGO-run resources such as
whether grassroots women & their income-generating activities, such as hospitals and clinics, home-based
peers from other communities, stu- raising pigs or making rope to sell, care workers in GROOTS Mathare are
dents or development professionals - their work is primarily supported out more involved in activities such as
speak directly with the women on of members’ pockets. In many cases, transporting patients to hospitals
site; both visitors and visited ask the women contribute a very small and delivering medicines from clinics
questions, share insights and may amount each month so that home- and food from feeding programs than
well meet with local authorities and based caregivers can bring a small are their rural counterparts. Staff at
the press, thus raising local women’s donation of food or clothing to the local hospitals often refer patients
confidence and the profile of their sick or provide school fees for or- to members of GROOTS Mathare.
issues. phans. This is in addition to the
great donations of time and energy Home-based care workers here see
the women give to care for their emotional and spiritual support for

GROOTS KENYA
The majority of the groups are
members of GROOTS Kenya, al-
though there were also several part- munity education.
ner groups, not all of which are pro-
filed here. GROOTS Kenya is an um-
brella organization which coordi-
nates the activities of and acts as a
voice for its member groups, working
with the knowledge that by banding
together, grassroots organizations
can have a stronger influence on
national and international policies.
GROOTS Kenya provides training in
home-based care, prevention of
mother to child transmission and
information on anti-retrovirals to its in Nairobi. The area is overpopulated
member groups.
Those who attend trainings are
trainers of trainers (TOTs) and often ter. The majority generate income
hold workshops upon returning to
their home areas to enlarge their
group and strengthen community
capacity for responding to AIDS.
GROOTS Kenya also works as a net-
working facilitator, conducting peer-
to-peer exchanges in order for grass- Formed in 1996 after the formation
roots women to give support and
share knowledge with each other.
A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT
friends and neighbors. The primary the HIV positive as one of their most
activities of the groups are resource important jobs. One woman they
sharing (particularly in widows’ care for is Liz. She has lost both her
groups), home-based care, orphan husband and her three young chil-
support, stigma reduction and com- dren to AIDS. She also has found her-
self unable to work due to the ill-
ness. When she becomes very sick,
Liz is almost entirely dependent
upon her home-based caregiver, with
COMMUNITIES whom she has developed a very close
relationship. Since this caregiver has
begun visiting regularly, Liz reports
Urban Slums (June 14- that she is feeling better. She is now
able to travel to the local well to get
18) water and her mental health has also
improved. She attributes her high
spirits to her caregiver.
Mathare is the second largest slum
and the people are generally impov-
erished, have poor housing, sanita-
tion and limited access to clean wa-
by running small roadside businesses,
selling secondhand clothes, food or
sundries. Other laborers do casual
day work either inside Mathare or
elsewhere in Nairobi.
of GROOTS Kenya, GROOTS Mathare
is one of the oldest and most suc-
cessful groups under the GROOTS GROOTS Mathare has a great influ-
Kenya umbrella. It is a network of 26 ence in their community and its
women’s self-help groups within the members have involved themselves
Mathare slums. GROOTS Mathare has in many aspects of life there.
a main office in settlement, which
also serves as their Mother/Day Care One of their greatest accomplish-
Center. The group collaborates with ments has been in partnering with
a number of community-based or- youth groups, who often take the
ganizations, NGOs, health institu- lead in education, stigma-reduction
tions, youth groups, schools and and awareness raising. YSAFE (Youths
churches in empowering and improv- in Slums Aiming for Excellence) is
ing the lives of those living in one group that has been particularly
Mathare. successful. Founded by a young
member of GROOTS Mathare (who
Over 100 members of GROOTS was also a valuable member of the
Mathare have been trained in home- Community AIDS Watch team). its
FEBRUARY 2005 2
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aim is to fill the gap in knowledge
and awareness about HIV/AIDS in
local youth. The fifteen members of
YSAFE use poems, skits and songs to
create awareness about AIDS. They
travel to schools, churches and other
youth groups within and outside of
Mathare.
The group is encouraged by positive
responses and see the importance of
creating a space that allows for free
and open peer exchange-with and
without adults. The members of YS-
AFE have seen positive changes in
themselves as well as the youths
they target, and feel encouraged by
this to continue spreading their mes-
sage.
The host of the AIDS Watch, GROOTS
Kenya is a network of grassroots
women belonging to self-help groups
across Kenya. Founded in 1995, to-
day the network has more than 2000
women members. Its objective is to
"ensure that grassroots women are
masters of their own destiny through
their direct participation in decision
making processes."
It is a member of GROOTS Interna-
tional and the Huairou Commission.
www.groots.org/member.htm
Korogocho is Nairobi’s third largest
informal settlement, with a popula-
tion of approximately 150,000. It is
also one of the poorest, most over-
crowded slums in the city, with an
average of 5-6 people living in each
room. Residents of Korogocho live
with harsh poverty, open sewage
drains and an adjacent dump. Nearly
every household is caring for at least
one orphan whose parents have died
from AIDS-related causes. Because
each household is so burdened, or-
phans are no longer thought of as a
community problem, as they gener-
ally are in the rural areas. Instead,
the duty of caring for these children
is left to individual families.
Stigma and miseducation are also
high in Korogocho. The dominant
population is of the Luo tribe, which
has traditionally ascribed the symp-
toms of AIDS to an ancient curse
called chira.
The host group was Korogocho Com-
munity Based Health Care (KCBHC),
which was founded in 1995 by com-
munity members concerned with the
A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT
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prevalence of communicable dis-
ease. Since their beginning, they
have founded a school, Faith Inte-
gration Centre, and a support group
for those giving and receiving home-
based care. Six members of KCBHC
are trained in home-based care and
they currently care for eight HIV
positive people and ten orphans.
Elizabeth, in her early thirties, is
HIV positive and is being cared for by eviction is a common threat for
home-based caregivers in KCBHC.
Although often bedridden, she is the settlements. Katherine told her visi-
only source of support for three chil- tors that even though her caregivers
dren, her youngest brother, a niece
and a nephew. Because the children support for her, they boost her mo-
are not her own, her husband has
left her. The only support Elizabeth
receives is from the members of
KCBHC who visit her to provide both risks of HIV. The visits and support
moral support and physical care. She she receives from KCBHC raise her
is a member of the support group
run by the caregivers. The three
children attend Faith Integration
Centre. It is unclear what will hap-
pen to these orphans once Elizabeth
dies, but it is fortunate that they are
connected to KCBHC.
Also HIV positive, Pamela is a foun-
der and the current president of
KCBHC. After she tested positive
and fell ill, Pamela moved back to
her home area near Lake Victoria to
be cared for by her family. There
were advantages to living in a rural
area, such as a clean environment,
the care of family and the preva-
lence of homegrown, nutritious food
However, she did not feel that she
was receiving the support there that
she did in Korogocho as a member of
KCBHC. She returned. Now, although
she is often sick and weak and has
her own children to care for, Pamela
works daily, caring for the children
at Faith Integration Centre, visiting
others who are bedridden and acting
as a guiding force behind KCBHC.
Katherine also receives home-
based care from the members of
FEBRUARY 2005
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KCBHC. She has been bedridden ever
since she began taking ARVs, which
were provided by a Catholic group
that members of KCBHC work closely
with, Medical Mission Sisters. She
hopes the medicine will help her feel
better soon. When she has the en-
ergy, she sells secondhand clothes to
support herself and her four chil-
dren. She used to have her own ki-
osk, but it was torn down to make
room for a power-line. This type of
those who live in Nairobi’s informal
do not usually have much material
rale and encourage her to talk
openly about her status with her
children and to warn them of the
spirits.
Nyanza & Western
Provinces (June 21-25)
Kisumu, the third largest city in
Kenya, lies on the shores of Lake
Victoria in the Nyanza Province. The
dominant tribe here is Luo and cul-
tural practices have proven espe-
cially harmful since the advent of
the AIDS epidemic. The Luo are po-
lygamous and have traditionally
practiced wife inheritance, in which
a woman whose husband has died
marries her brother-in-law. Although
this practice grew as a means of
supporting a woman and her chil-
dren, it is now a method of rapidly
spreading HIV through a community.
A woman who has been infected by
her husband and then is forced to
marry her brother-in-law often in-
fects him, and he then spreads the
virus to his other wives.
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currently has 21 members who offi- community who are less well off
cially care for six people. than they are.

Springs Ministry used to channel

funds to this group in order for them
to provide food and medicine to
their patients, but since those funds
have dried up, the widows primarily
provide encouragement and prayers.
When they have extra resources, the
caregivers do share them with their
The Community AIDS Watch was
neighbors. Although the Orinde wid-
hosted in Kisumu by Springs Ministry,
ows sometimes feel discouraged be-
a partner group of GROOTS focused
cause they have so little, they are
on caring for widows and orphans.
encouraged by the appreciation they
Springs is focused on promoting self-
receive from the community. They
help among widows and orphans.
have seen a reduction in stigma due Angel lives with her five children in
The director of the group organizes
in part to their efforts. a small housing compound with two
conferences for widows to share
their knowledge and morally support other women and their children. All
each other. The widows in the group GROOTS International is a flexible had been married to the same man,
have often taken the lead in caring network linking grassroots women who passed away in 1998. He also
for orphans in their communities. leaders and groups in poor rural and had a fourth wife, who died shortly
When they are able, Springs Ministry urban areas in the South and the after he did. All three remaining
provides vocational training and North. It nurtures relationships of wives, including Angel, are HIV posi-
school fees for orphans so that they mutual support and solidarity among tive. They do not know how many of
will be able to care for themselves. women engaged in redeveloping their children are also infected. An-
Many of the widows are also actively their communities and expanding gel’s eyesight has begun to deterio-
involved in halting wife inheritance, and strengthening their leadership. rate rapidly, increasing her depend-
seeing it as a death sentence. These ence on the women who care for
widows are at the front line in the GROOTS International is a member her. Although her extended family is
battle against HIV and the practices network of the Huariou Commission. aware of her condition, they do not
that spread the virus. Although many www.groots.org offer her any assistance. Angel’s
of them have very little, by banding home-based care worker visits her
together they support are able to Siaya is located in the Western Prov- frequently, helping with household
support each other and strengthen ince of Kenya, north of Lake Victo- chores and providing counseling.
their communities. ria. The people, primarily Luo, make Angel felt distraught and hopeless
their living through subsistence agri- about her status until the women of
In order to care for some of the or- culture and small-scale husbandry. GROOTS Siaya began to visit her. She
phans who have been left without Like the Luo in Kisumu, they are now feel confident that she can live
even extended families, Springs Min- polygamous and practice wife inheri- a healthy life and maintains a posi-
istry has founded an orphanage in tance. These cultural practices com- tive attitude, especially for the sake
the hills above Kisumu, called the bined with persistent poverty and of her children.
Jehovah Shammah Restoration Cen- malnutrition have left Siaya with an
tre. Some of the widows’ groups alarmingly high AIDS rate, estimated
donate food and clothing for the at 38%. 7 Members of GROOTS Siaya, empow-
children, who otherwise have very ered by their experience as a part of
little. GROOTS Siaya was formed by four the group, are beginning to have a
community women concerned about large impact on their community.
the severe poverty, malnutrition and
The Orinde Widows’ Group, a disease prevalence in their area,
member of Springs Ministry The particularly the rapid spread of HIV.
members of the widows’ group, They began by meeting to talk about
which was originally founded for these issues and then began to pro-
moral support and resource sharing vide informal in-home care for some
for the widows, realized that many of their sick neighbors. In 1996, they
of them were caring for relatives connected to GROOTS Kenya, and
and neighbors who were infected received training in home-based
with HIV. Springs Ministry arranged care. The women in the group
for the Orinde Widows to receive passed their training on to others in
training in home-based care. The their community through a work-
Orinde Widows’ group is currently shop. There are currently 17 active
the only group in their community members in GROOTS Siaya, providing Eda has recently started a support
that is responding to AIDS. The group home-based care and sharing their
group for women who are resisting
meagre resources with those in their the practice of wife inheritance. She
A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT FEBRUARY 2005 4
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and several members of her church
have started a shelter for women
who choose not to take part in the
practice so that they do not need to
fear being left homeless.
Regina is the only group member in
her village, but she has enrolled sev-
eral orphans in her community in a
feeding program, and also has man-
aged to pay school fees for one or-
phan.
Central & Eastern
Provinces (July 5-9)
Tetu is located in the Nyeri district
of Central Province, near Mt. Kenya.
It is a mountainous rural area popu-
lated by people of the Kikuyu tribe
who are primarily involved in subsis-
tence farming, growing bananas,
avocados and coffee. There are very
few government or NGO resources in
Tetu.
The closest Voluntary Counseling and immune system, such as by growing
Testing center and hospital are in
the town of Nyeri, which is too far to grow, highly nutritious foods. She
be convenient
Home-based care workers must
reach all of their patients by foot,
traveling up and down steep hills all
day in order to visit the sick and
orphans. However, the work of
GROOTS Tetu is vital in this area, as
they are one of only a very few
groups providing AIDS-related sup-
port to the sick.
Four women were organized by an
area politician in 2002 to be trained
by GROOTS Kenya and have since
founded sub-groups and held work-
shops in their four sub-divisions to
train others in home-based care and
A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT
A I R O
prevention of mother to child trans-
mission. The group currently has 29
active trained members who care for
17 HIV positive people and 24 or-
phans.
Anne is married to a matatu driver
who has been unfaithful since their
marriage. She told her visitors that
she has always been faithful to her
husband and believes that he
brought AIDS into their marriage
after sleeping with a wealthy widow
in the community who is thought to
have infected a number of men. An-
ne’s husband only comes home occa-
sionally, late at night, when he
forces her to have sex with him.
Fortunately, she has been able to
negotiate with him to use condoms
so that she is not re-infected with
another strain of the virus. However,
his visits leave her fatigued. Al-
though they have a two year old son,
Anne has to beg her husband for any
money. As is the custom here, they
live with her husband’s parents. Her
mother-in-law refuses to wash An-
ne’s clothes, wrongly believing that
doing so would leave her vulnerable
to HIV infection. GROOTS Tetu is
attempting to lessen this type of
stigma by providing education to the
community through schools,
churches and chief’s meetings.
Although Anne has not received any
medication for her various opportun-
istic infections, her caregivers have
provided her with information on
inexpensive ways to strengthen her
and eating locally available, easy to
told her visitors that she always feels
better after they visit, even if they
aren’t able to bring her anything.
The Huairou Commission envisions a
world in which local and global de-
mocracies embrace the voices, prac-
tices and policies of grassroots
women. Its goals are driven by its
member grassroots groups and its
work is accomplished through “a
new way of partnering.”
www.huairou.org
Kitui is a dry area located in Kenya’s
Eastern Province. It is sparsely popu-
lated due to frequent drought. The
people in the area are primarily of
the Akamba tribe, who support
FEBRUARY 2005
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themselves by growing drought-
resistant crops such as maize, sor-
ghum, beans and cow-peas. GROOTS
Kitui, which calls itself Tei Wa W’o
(True Mercy), is made up of nine sub-
groups, with approximately 220
members in all caring for 60 people
and 150 orphans. Tei Wa W’o was
founded in 2000 primarily as a
women’s self-help group. The ten
original members participated in a
GROOTS Kenya training on home-
based care and orphan and widow
support in 2002.
The main challenges facing home-
based caregivers in Kitui are the lack
of food and water and transporta-
tion. It sometimes takes group mem-
bers two hours to reach the house-
holds they are visiting. They would
prefer to travel by bicycle or public
transportation, but a lack of services
and resources keeps them from do-
ing this. Additionally, water sources
are very far, so collecting enough
water for a homestead can end up
taking all of the caregivers’ time if
they are not efficient. The great
energy required for transport, water
and firewood collection make caring
for their community a great strain.
But members of Tei Wa W’o share
their time and food willingly, believ-
ing that they will be blessed by God
for sharing when they have so little.
Tei Wa W’o has focused on HIV/AIDS
education for their community, and
see this as one of their greatest suc-
cesses. They have noticed that more
relatives are taking in orphans since
information on HIV/AIDS and orphan
support has spread throughout the
area. They also feel that more peo-
ple are being cared for in their
homes and so are able to die with
dignity. Tei Wa W’o told their visitors
that because of their community
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trainings and workshops, everyone in
their area knows about HIV/AIDS and
that it has become “the daily song”
throughout Kitui.
Nanyuki is a small city in Central
Province whose economy is almost
entirely based upon the nearby Brit-
ish military base. Commercial sex
work is rampant as is the illegal
brewing and selling of a sometimes
lethal alcohol called changaa. These
two interrelated factors have led to
widespread violence against women
and to high rates of HIV/AIDS, esti-
mated to be at least 10% by the as-
sistant chief. Poverty and unem-
ployment are high in this area, and
these economic factors are the con-
text for the high levels of substance
abuse and unprotected sex in
Nanyuki.
GROOTS Kenya is represented in
Nanyuki by Likii Home Based Care,
which was founded in 1999 in re-
sponse to the growing HIV/AIDS epi-
demic. The group currently has
twenty members, seven of which
actively engage in home-based care
for ten patients as well as perform-
ing counseling and community out-
reach. Stigma is high in Nanyuki, and
for this reason, Likii Home Based
Care has decided to not associate
themselves only with HIV/AIDS. In-
stead, they identify as a home-based
care group for people suffering from
any illness. The stigma facing both
the HIV positive and the caregivers is
one of the major challenges facing
Likii Home Based Care. Caregivers
testified that it prevents sick people
from coming out about their status
until they are in the terminal stages
of their illness. The same stigma
prevents members of the group from
opening a dialogue in the community
about the HIV/AIDS. As with most
voluntary home-based care groups
dealing with HIV/AIDS, a lack of re-
sources and the consequent high
member turnover are always a chal-
lenge.
Faith is forty years old with three
grown children, and has been sick
for the last five years. After discov-
ering her status, Faith’s husband left
her, so she currently lives with her
children and brother, who is infected
with tuberculosis and pneumonia.
Faith also has tuberculosis, and was
A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT
A I R O
advised by doctors to stop working
as a laundry woman because of a
fear that the cold water would exac-
erbate her condition. Although she
would like to start a small shop, she
does not have the finance and so
sometimes resorts to prostitution.
She recently contracted a sexually
transmitted infection from one of
her customers.
When they are able, Faith’s caregiv-
ers bring her food and pay her hospi-
tal fees. They sometimes bring her
free medicine from the hospital Likii
HBC. Although Faith fears revealing
her status to the community, or even
to her children, she does refer peo-
ple who are sick with HIV/AIDS and
other illnesses to Likii Home-Based
Care. She trusts the members of the
group to keep her status a secret.
She told her visitors that she feels
more optimistic about her life since
they began to visit and counsel her.
Near Nairobi
(July 12-16)
Limuru is located just northwest of
Nairobi. Its fertile highland soil al-
lows the mainly Kikuyu residents to
sustain themselves through small-
scale agriculture. Because of its
proximity to Nairobi, Limuru has
been hit heavily by HIV/AIDS. The
Mwihoko Wa Rironi Self-Help Group
was formed in 2002 in response to
the epidemic, and was originally
trained by Plan International. When
that group ceased its operations in
Limuru, GROOTS Kenya came to the
area and trained the group to be
trainers of trainers in home-based
care. Those who were originally
trained went on to train 150 com-
munity members and Mwihoko Wa
Rironi now has fourteen active
members, orphans, widows, men and
women, who currently care for four
patients and twenty-four orphans.
FEBRUARY 2005
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The members visit their patients as a
group once a week in order to coun-
sel, clean, care for children and as-
sist in household chores. With mem-
ber contributions of 20 shillings a
month (approximately 25 cents),
home-based caregivers are able to
provide food packages for those they
visit. With income generated through
firewood sales and maintenance of a
group shamba (agricultural plot) the
group is able to assist with paying
orphans’ school fees. The group also
conducts HIV/AIDS community out-
reach. Through this program, they
train other groups on home-based
care and spread awareness. They
also have reached out to the local
hospital, which now Kenya. Ten
members trained as Trainers of
Trainers (TOTs) in home-based care,
then went home and trained 140
people. GROOTS refers home-based
care patients to them.
Eric, an orphan in his early twenties,
is now responsible for caring for his
own wife and childas well as his
younger brother and sister. Eric
joined a youth group and the educa-
tion he received from them and from
Mwihoko Wa Rironi has allowed him
to talk to his friends and family
about HIV/AIDS openly. Many of his
peers, though also affected by the
disease, think that AIDS is a concern
only for older people, and do not
feel free to discuss it with him. The
Self-Help group tries to assist Eric
and his family, particularly in paying
for his younger sister’s education,
but resources are scarce. GROOTS
Kenya has donated two pigs to Eric
in order for him to begin an income-
generating activity, but unfortu-
nately they both died. Although
Eric’s life is filled with hardship, it is
fortunate that Eric is a part of a
group that supports and encourages
him as he copes with such difficult
circumstances
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Since beginning this campaign, AFRUS AIDS is Huairou’s major part-
GROOTS Kiamoria have seen a great ner in its AIDS campaign in sub-
GROOTS Kiamora is located in Ga- change in the perception of AIDS in Saharan Africa. It is a broad-based
tundu, about 50 kilometers north of the community. coalition of global women’s networks
Nairobi. There, farmers grow and
and faith-based organizations com-
sell coffee, maize, beans and pota- Because of the high levels of pov-
toes. Because of its proximity to mitted to strengthening and linking
erty, GROOTS Kiamoria faces chal-
Nairobi, Gatundu has been hit hard community-based African grassroots
lenges in the way they are perceived
by HIV/AIDS abd orphans are a par- by the community. Home-based care women’s organizations that are fight-
ticular problem in this area. GROOTS workers share group resources with ing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
Kiamoria, was founded as a self-help the people they care for by bringing www. afrusaids.org
group in 1997 by 25 women who had food, clothes and other necessary
the intention of helping each other items at every visit. This leads oth-
meet their daily needs. They did this ers to think the workers should bring
at first by helping each other with food and clothes to every disadvan-
farming, digging bore holes, building taged person. Similary, neighbors
house, creating amerry-go-round request support for school fees for
scheme. They went on start income- all of the orphans in the community,
generating activities like knitting which the women of GROOTS Kiamo-
and selling pullovers, making bas- ria cannot provide.
kets, mats and fireless cookers. Un-
fortunately, they have had difficulty Carl is now responsible for his three
finding a markets. nieces. His sister left five children
when she and her husband died, but
GROOTS Kiamoria began its HIV/ the two older girls are now married
AIDS-related activities in 2003, when and on their own. After their father
the group joined GROOTS Kiamoria died the family was broke because of
umbrella. GROOTS Kiamoria acts as a his hospital bills. Their mother
networking partner bringing together worked very hard to make money for
TOTs and home-based care workers them and put off the constant re-
for further training and skill ex- quests of her family to move back to
changes, usually in the area of her home. When their mother was
income-generation. sick a HBC worker came and taught
the children how to care and cook
for her

The oldest of the remaining children

is now secretarial college. She will
graduate in a year and hopes to get
a job. The next oldest is in Form
Four and she wants to go to nursing
school. The youngest child is a boy in
Standard Two. With the support of
GROOTS Kiamora, the family is
slowly conquering impossible diffi-
culties.
Home-based caregivers bring food
and clothes to those who are ill
when they can; they provide coun-
seling and assist with household Written by Shannon Hayes
chores. In addition, GROOTS Kiamo- 2005
ria has undertaken an educational
campaign on ARVs and prevention of
mother to child transmission. Group
members regularly attend church
meetings, schools, chief’s meetings
(barazas) and other public gatherings
in order to share correct information
about the transmission of HIV/AIDS
and how to care for people who are
infected.

A HUAIROU WATCH REPORT FEBRUARY 2005 7