Bringing Hope

In a small deprived shanty town of Bamburi about 20 km from Mombasa is an orphanage that houses 25 children whose parents died from the killer AIDS virus. Here, a group of women decided to come together as Udugu Women Group to provide a home for those orphaned by the disease.

During the interview, the women told me that they decided on this mission after realising there was a growing number of children in the village who were left homeless or had no one to care for them after their parents died of AIDS.

I walked inside the fragile looking structure thatched with ageing coconut palm leaves and the walls of the building was made of red clay.

In it I found a group of children ranging between 2 - 15 years old; all gathered in this tiny room and almost immediately I was told that five of them were scheduled to visit a government run clinic nearly 30 kms away for AIDS testing.

According to the women, such visits are routinely carried out to check whether they were responding to antiretroviral treatment drugs but the women told me some of them may not live very long.

The group’s co-ordinator Mary Wanjala said, “some of these children may not live for very long, they received their first AIDS tests after we brought them to the orphanage, we are trying to ensure that they all get the treatment and care they deserve.”

Udugu Women Group said discrimination was a major challenge facing people with HIV AIDS and as such the group is now involved in providing psychological counselling to the children in the orphanage to enable them deal with stigma that comes with being HIV positive.

Once in their care, the children are provided with drugs and nutritious meals that would improve their chances of fighting the deadly virus.

Started four years ago, the group relies mainly on handouts from well wishers including tourists visiting the local area.