Greetings Nairobi

[Guest guest]

Hello from Nairobi where Outlaw and disorder reigns supreme.

Together with my body guard I have been mingling with those who serve the

infected and affected communities in this national capital.

Apart from the verbal evidence I have collected supporting a change in the

paradigm for care support and prevention I just wanted to quote a Kenyan -

" .......Unemployment among the youth has resulted in high risk sexual

behaviour due to idleness and frustrations. Without access to any other form

of entertainment, many young women and men indulge in casual sex resulting

in unwanted pregnancies. Doctors are also leaving the government employment

and setting up backstreet clinics where they procure abortions.

Lack of sex education is also to blame. Most of the young people who indulge

in casual sex are ignorant of the attendant risks.

The Government should introduce sex education in school, right from the

elementary level. There's nothing ethical about adults failing in their

sacred duty of responsible parenthood by hiding behind religion and

morality. "

This letter scored the rating of the Debate of the Day in the local media.

I also had a meeting with 10 representatives from a potential self help

group comprising a number of infected members who are trying to make a

difference in their community. To be able to speak as a group they need to

be registered. The daily income of the members is 30/-ksh working as coffee

plantation workers. Two of these ladies were grandmothers over 80 caring for

orphans.

Some of them obviously need medicine yet they can't even afford the cost of

an Xray at the local hospital where they receive treatment.

Each lady or working age works in the coffee plantations and they work from

6.00am till 3.00pm but because of their frailty they can only pick one

container per day for which they receive 30/-ksh.

They live in a slum but at least 10/-ksh goes in rent. The rest is spend on

food and clothing 20/-ksh per day and for that they only get one meal.

Some of the group have been trying to get assistance for them and they are

seeking registration. The fee to be registered is 700/-ksh. There is

considerable amount of social capital in the work they are proposing if they

can get some support.

Just for the record I asked about availability of ARV's for those who will

not live without the assistance of medicine. I was told the cost is

4000/-ksh per month. They only know one person who has access and he is

having difficulty because he can't afford the food that makes the medicine

work properly.

Well they now have the 700/-ksh for the registration which has made them all

very joyous but there is nothing joyful about the prognosis.

There was little point of talking about managing toxicity when no one will

effectively be able to have access to it. They are also mostly spouses of

partners who are also infected.

Another activity was to assist disabled young kenyans to form their own

national association. They were telling me that there are formal

associations for disabled and paraplegics but no one who is disabled and

just the occasional paraplegic actually works in these agencies. They

provide no direct access and most disabled still beg or sell sweets from

their tricycles.

Just a report from the trenches.

Geoffrey

E-mail: <gheaviside@...>