Home Visits

On Wednesdays, the ladies in the RWAMAS group go on home visits to see the group members that aren't able to come to the daily meeting. They allowed us to accompany them and see where some of the group members live and to hear some of their stories.

The first woman we met has 6 children - boys. Her youngest are 7 month old twins. Her oldest child lives with his grandmother now because she lives closer to his school. The rest live in a tiny home. It's one room, about 8x10 feet. After her diagnosis, her husband left her to care for all the children alone. She didn't elaborate on how she was infected, but regardless, being single mother of 6 isn't easy. When she is able, she washes clothes to make some extra money. The thing hat really got to me, though, was that because she can't afford diapers (disposable or quality cloth) after she uses as very thin cloth diaper, she wraps the diaper in plastic shopping bags to prevent leakage. 

Then we walked to meet another woman who has been sick a lot recently. She lives in the tiniest of all the homes we visited. Her house couldn't have been more than 6x8 feet and she lives there with 3 kids. 

We then visited one of the men in the group. There are only currently 2 men in the group. This man, had all girls. They live with their grandmother as it is not common for s father to raise children alone. His wife passed away several years ago. He would love to work, but is unable to find a job. Besides being HIV positive and dealing with the stigma of that diagnosis, he has vitiligo, a skin condition where over time, the body stops producing melatonin and the pigment in the skin slowly disappears. Many people are frightened by his appearance and won't give him work. He often gets called a muzungu, even though he is fully Kenyan.

The final home we visited was the home of one of the women who does come to group pretty often, but she wanted us to meet her family. She lives in a 2 room house with her biological children and all of the orphan children she has taken in over the lady few years, the youngest is 5 months. There are 14 children living in the house with her. It's amazing to me that a woman who doesn't have much to give materially, is willing to live so many children as her own. The whole situation is still sad, though. If she didn't care for the kids, they would either die from being abandoned or have to live in an orphanage, which vary greatly in quality. However, she isn't in any position to fully provide for the physical needs of the children. There really isn't s simple solution to the problem, but I applaud her for trying.

We will visit homes of more of the women in the coming weeks. It is helpful to know where they live and what their stories are so that I can better understand how I can help.