Faces and Places......they all have a story!
I've been feeling bad about my blog entry marking 1 month in Africa, it seems most of my comments were negative, or redundant facts about life here, when really thats not what stands out most to me. I think I was tired from feeling sick when I wrote the blog entry. Today I was reminded of the reason I came and the reason I am staying in Africa. The reason is to learn from the richness of Kenyans, and tell their story, in whatever way I can. Today the story is about perseverance, dedication, vision, and simplicity that when you look deeper is actually complex. I think grassroots is a vast overstatement when you look at a NGO such as MOCASO. I visited MOCASO today, whi
ch stands for Mother/Child with Aids Support Organization
It was started by a woman named Joyce Kamondo, pictured here, who has a heart for helping others, and who has not given up in 22 years, on herself, her HIV status, has not given up helping others deal with living with HIV, and also humbling herself to accept help too. I think I can honestly say she may become a hero of mine, and I've only known her 1 day, but she said we are now friends, and has invited me to return. I spent time today learning about what her organization is about, and how they help people, in what appears to be a small way, but in reality is a world of difference made for each family. She started 22 years ago when she was diagnosed with a death sentence, a shameful one at that. Today she explained to me that she and others would cover their faces/heads with scarfs to enter the gates where the Pumwani clinic was, in order to get tested/treatment. They did not want anyone to see them entering as they would surely be known then to have HIV, and that had such stigma, they would be cast out of their families and communities. She said, she realized she needed to change that stigma, and was the first of her community to "come out with HIV" and speak about her illness, and although her community shunned her, slowly other infected women came to her and asked her, "I'm the same, now what do we do?" They began support groups at the clinic, and in 2004, her cause was so successful she started renting out office space and growing her staff. I saw the office space today, its as I said, "grassroots" but the world to Joyce, you can see that in her eyes. She helps women
to sup
port their families by teaching them and providing materials Income Generating Activities including making bead necklaces, beaded red HIV ribbon pins, powdered and liquid soap and tie-dying material all for sale in the market outside. They get piecemeal funding from the Kenya Government, USAID, and World Food Program., however they do not always have funding for IGA supplies, or food to hand out to those in need. They've made orphans of HIV and vulnerable children a priority for food, and provide them a kit as seen here, a simple kit with donated clothing, water purification drops, a toothbrush, 1 kg of maize flour, sometimes beans, maize and porridge. They understand this is not often enough to feed a whole family, but the
y can only give what they are donated. When donations are plenty, the provide food to HIV infected women also. They currently have a wait-list, or pending names as she explained it, of 300 people. Her dream is to start a food bank, but find funding is an issue. After seeing her office and their situation, it was clear to me how they can make so much from so little. Its truly an amazing feat that she can make a family able to sustain themselves on a few simple bead necklaces. When I was leaving, I asked her if she had any questions for me, In her simplicity she replied that she would like me to find someone in Canada to partner with her organization to help with funding her Income Generating Activities and her work. Wouldn't I love to magically provide her with a funder, I did promise her I would market her products, shown here in the photos.
Faces and Places......they all have a story!
I've been feeling bad about my blog entry marking 1 month in Africa, it seems most of my comments were negative, or redundant facts about life here, when really thats not what stands out most to me. I think I was tired from feeling sick when I wrote the blog entry. Today I was reminded of the reason I came and the reason I am staying in Africa. The reason is to learn from the richness of Kenyans, and tell their story, in whatever way I can. Today the story is about perseverance, dedication, vision, and simplicity that when you look deeper is actually complex. I think grassroots is a vast overstatement when you look at a NGO such as MOCASO. I visited MOCASO today, whi
ch stands for Mother/Child with Aids Support Organization
It was started by a woman named Joyce Kamondo, pictured here, who has a heart for helping others, and who has not given up in 22 years, on herself, her HIV status, has not given up helping others deal with living with HIV, and also humbling herself to accept help too. I think I can honestly say she may become a hero of mine, and I've only known her 1 day, but she said we are now friends, and has invited me to return. I spent time today learning about what her organization is about, and how they help people, in what appears to be a small way, but in reality is a world of difference made for each family. She started 22 years ago when she was diagnosed with a death sentence, a shameful one at that. Today she explained to me that she and others would cover their faces/heads with scarfs to enter the gates where the Pumwani clinic was, in order to get tested/treatment. They did not want anyone to see them entering as they would surely be known then to have HIV, and that had such stigma, they would be cast out of their families and communities. She said, she realized she needed to change that stigma, and was the first of her community to "come out with HIV" and speak about her illness, and although her community shunned her, slowly other infected women came to her and asked her, "I'm the same, now what do we do?" They began support groups at the clinic, and in 2004, her cause was so successful she started renting out office space and growing her staff. I saw the office space today, its as I said, "grassroots" but the world to Joyce, you can see that in her eyes. She helps women 
to sup
port their families by teaching them and providing materials Income Generating Activities including making bead necklaces, beaded red HIV ribbon pins, powdered and liquid soap and tie-dying material all for sale in the market outside. They get piecemeal funding from the Kenya Government, USAID, and World Food Program., however they do not always have funding for IGA supplies, or food to hand out to those in need. They've made orphans of HIV and vulnerable children a priority for food, and provide them a kit as seen here, a simple kit with donated clothing, water purification drops, a toothbrush, 1 kg of maize flour, sometimes beans, maize and porridge. They understand this is not often enough to feed a whole family, but the
y can only give what they are donated. When donations are plenty, the provide food to HIV infected women also. They currently have a wait-list, or pending names as she explained it, of 300 people. Her dream is to start a food bank, but find funding is an issue. After seeing her office and their situation, it was clear to me how they can make so much from so little. Its truly an amazing feat that she can make a family able to sustain themselves on a few simple bead necklaces. When I was leaving, I asked her if she had any questions for me, In her simplicity she replied that she would like me to find someone in Canada to partner with her organization to help with funding her Income Generating Activities and her work. Wouldn't I love to magically provide her with a funder, I did promise her I would market her products, shown here in the photos.
wow that sounds like a life changing day
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