Nyanza...

I returned last week from a stay in the Western part of Kenya called Nyanza. I was visiting a couple I had met in Mombasa, Paul and Erin, who had returned to Nyanza to begin a ministry working in two villages called Muhoroni and Beta.

Paul and Erin are beginning this work following a number of experiences over the past year. They met while working for Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Mombasa. Paul is Kenyan and Erin is Canadian. The married a little over a year ago and decided to remain in Kenya. News then came to them that Paul's elder brother was sick, and they returned home together to care for him. He was suffering from AIDS, and in just two months Paul and Erin watched him deteriorate daily, until he sadly passed away. He left behind a wife, who was at that time pregnant with twins, and three other children. Unfortunately his wife had also contracted the virus, and there were deep concerns over the health of the twins that she was carrying.

Paul and Erin knew that 66% of babies born with the virus die before the age of three, and without the right drugs and a safe hospitalised birth, this becomes increasingly likely. Children then require more drugs soon after birth and must not be breast-fed by their infected mother to give them a better chance of survival. Having watched the painful and undignified death of a close family member, Paul and Erin decided to do all that they could to prevent the children from being born having contracted HIV.

The babies were born and Paul and Erin supported their mother as closely as they could, although she was evidently struggling to look after all five children given her weak state due to her illness. Paul and Erin offered to assist her by adopting the twins, and they began to raise them as their own when they were two weeks old. They have fed them with approved formula and made sure that they have the appropriate care and medical attention to help protect them from HIV. The twins are now happy and thriving at nearly 10 months.

Having heard this story I was keen to visit them and meet their family. On my visit I received a real insight into the AIDS epidemic in this part of the world, and saw first-hand how poverty, lack of education and tribal traditions only seem to intensify the crisis. But I also found a family who are beginning to take action in their small village, and bring hope to the many families suffering as a result of HIV and AIDS.