Good-bye Eldoret!

Well, my time here in Kenya is rapidly coming to an end… We leave Eldoret on Saturday morning for Mombasa for a few days of rest and relaxation at Tiwi Beach. One week from right now I will be boarding a plane in Nairobi to make the long journey back home. I am both excited to get back and sad to be leaving. It has been impossible to try to relay the feelings and experiences of this journey to you all and I apologize for that. I do hope that you will forgive me over the next few months when I undoubtedly repeatedly use the phrase “When I was in Kenya…”

So as promised, I wanted to tell you all about my experiences in Busia and Port Victoria visiting a few of the rural HIV clinics. There are 18 clinics run by AMPATH (formerly Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV now broadened to Academic Model for Providing Access to Healthcare) and they are responsible for providing care to over 55,000 HIV positive adults and children here in Kenya. (website is http://www.medicine.iupui.edu/kenya/hiv.aids.html if you are interested in learning more!) The clinics I went to care for more than 10,000 people-- about 8,000 in Busia and 2,500 in Port Victoria. And these are not big towns… It was shocking to me to hear some of the statistics: about 1000 children are treated at the Busia clinic, 70% of the women treated at the Khunyangu clinic are already widowed. According to Dennis, the Kenyan resident who was there with me, women are much more willing to be tested and seek treatment and therefore often times outlive their male counterparts. I think being a single parent anywhere would be challenging… but add on the stress of extreme poverty, a large number of children (5 is the Kenyan average), and high likelihood that the other parent, as well as some of the children may also be positive. Unimaginable.

Despite the prevalence of the disease, there is still such stigma attached to this diagnosis. Many people who do seek treatment travel long distances to go to clinics out of their town in attempt to avoid seeing anyone they know. And travel here is not necessarily easy, nor does everyone have the money available to make such a trip.

There were so many patients that I saw over those two days whose stories broke my heart. It was quite overwhelming and I had to hold back tears several times. Just to give you an idea, one was a woman about 40 y/o who recently tested positive. Her husband worked out of town (as is common in Busia) and was only able to make it home for 2 weeks out of the year. He has not come home now for over 3 years and she has not heard from him. It is very possible that he has either a.) run off with another woman who he has likely infected as well b.) he’s aware of his diagnosis and too ashamed to come home or c.) he’s dead. And she has no way of knowing either way. Now she, through no fault of her own, is left with 4 children, little source of income and HIV.

The impact of this disease is shocking, most notably on the women and children. Recently I was also able to tag along on several OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) visits. This is a section of AMPATH that focuses mainly on meeting the needs of orphans of HIV as well as those children and families already suffering from the effects of extreme poverty and HIV. We visited one 13 y/o boy who is HIV positive, an orphan (both parents died of HIV), and the rest of his family has shunned him. They refuse to allow him to live with them, to help him seek treatment or to pay his school fees. Without help from AMPATH or another organization similar to it, this child would undoubtedly have little chance of a real future. And he is a sweet, bright kid who has little to no control over his circumstances.

I feel so blessed to have been able to have this experience. No doubt it will take me a while to process some of the things I have seen here. But I have met some amazing people, seen some wonderful things, faced some fears, maybe helped a few people… and I think/hope have learned and grown through the course of this trip. It will be something I will never forget…

Looking forward to seeing many of you soon! Hugs from Kenya!!!