Kunya Village, Kenya West Africa

Submitted by: Joyce Oneko

CIRCLES OF HOPE
Sponsored by Mama na Dada

Johann Gottried Herder, a 19th Century German theologian and writer, says that “the more a group is threatened, the more it will turn in upon itself and the closer the ties between its members.  To avert dispersion, they do everything to strengthen their tribal roots”.

What Herder said two centuries ago holds true to the Luo community today.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic has threatened the social fabric that holds the community together.   I am from the Luo community, and for the past six or so years, I have watched members of my family and community succumb to HIV/AIDS, and even though Mama na Dada was formed specifically to help girls and women get education and training to enable them to attain financial and mental independence, I find myself spending more and more time working with the community, but especially girls and women, on HIV/AIDS education on prevention, care and support as well as life skills training.  This past year I have been involved in bringing the community together so that the older generation can discuss sexual and reproductive health issues openly with the youth.

Nyanza Province, where Mama na Dada is based, and where the Luo community live, has HIV infection rate of 32% against a national rate of 10.5%.  The young generation, commonly referred to as “leaders of tomorrow”, is being wiped out, with girls between the ages of 15 – 24 being most affected.  For girls and women in Kunya Matara Village, the home of Mama na Dada, the reasons for this state of affairs are varied.  Suffice to say that the burden of giving care to the sick and nurturing and feeding the family falls squarely on girls and women.  Apart from HIV/AIDS, malaria is one of the greatest killers, especially in areas along the Lake, where we are based, and many children die before their fifth birthdays from malaria.

As a recognition for their efforts in bringing peace, harmony and warmth into the families and the community, Mama na Dada organized a day’s heart to heart sharing and training for women from Kunya Village on the International Women’s Day.  Sixty seven women attended.  I explained to them the significance of the day, giving an example of one Pamela Abwao from the community, who during the negotiation for Kenya’s independence in Lancaster, United Kingdom in 1962, insisted that women’s issues must be considered.  I went on to talk about the Gather the Women Conference and my personal experience of the conference.  I translated to them the GTW Vision Statement  and then we opened with a song in our language which says “My sister don’t sleep, the fight is still on”.  We then divided the group into 5 circles.

The whole morning was taken by women sharing their experiences and frustrations in caring for the sick members of their families, and the impact HIV/AIDS has had on them individually and as a community.  There were many issues that came out of these sharings, and which have formed the basis of an application Mama na Dada has made to the government for funding to hold a retreat for women, especially community health workers.

In the afternoon, we had a training conducted by an international non-governmental organization, Population Services International, on how to protect our families from malaria by using treated mosquito nets.

This is one of the largest women gatherings we have had in the community, of course apart from funeral gatherings, and the women collectively resolved that they would hold more to give each other support.  They further resolved that next year they would have two days’ celebrations for the International Women’s Day to give them more time to interact with each other.

I must say that this is one of the most satisfying gatherings I have been a part of in our community, and I intend to continue facilitating these Circles of Hope in the community.

We had another gathering of younger women who are in Mama na Dada’s Girls’ Support Group in Nairobi.  This group of 12 young women was facilitated by Angela, one of our counselors.  These young women’s concern was how they can bring peace and friendship between themselves and their mothers.  In the previous support group meetings, it has come out that many young girls are having strained relationships with their mothers.  The girls decided that they would make an effort to bring peace and they would start by doing something special for their mothers on mothers’ day.

Joyce Oneko