“You have been tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the micro-organism that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).”

When the doctor announced the results, a mood of gloom and despair descended on Zainabu. She did not know where to go or what to do.

“It seemed like my life and the livelihood of my children had been cut, since they all depended on me.”

Looking for a shoulder to cry on, Zainabu wondered whom to inform or talk to. Her family and the community had no place for HIV-positive people. “I am an abomination,” Zainabu thought to herself.

Zainabu has had a difficult life. Harsh living conditions and extreme poverty left her trying to sell fried cassava and sometimes exchanging sex for money to support her family. This is how she contracted HIV, all in the name of providing for her young family.

Sadly, Zainabu’s story is not an uncommon one in Kenya. The prevalence of HIV among Kenyans ages 15-64 is 7.1 percent, which means about 1.4 million people live with HIV (Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation – Kenya World AIDS Day Address,  Dec. 1, 2009).

When Zainabu learned she was HIV-positive, she stayed in denial for some time. She came to grips with her situation when Compassion child development center staff members visited her home during their routine home visits and noticed her ill health. She then had the opportunity to disclose her HIV status.

The staff came to her help and encouraged her to think about life, and began to help her develop goals for living positively. It was during this period that she was given access to health facilities and connected to a doctor who advised her to join support groups and disclose her status.

“After long soul searching and prayer, I joined a local support group and disclosed my status publicly. After disclosing my status, I felt relieved. It was the best medicine for my disease. A new sense of hope arose in my spirit. A dawn of a better future emerged with high determination and commitment to face the disease head on. My anguish and fear were all gone, I could now break the silence, all because Compassion cared for me through the church and the access to health facilities.”

Zainabu joined Jipe Moyo Support Group, an initiative supported by the child development center which educates its members on HIV and AIDS. It also empowers family and community members with knowledge of long-term support and care, and raises acceptability of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS) by family and community for stigma reduction. Jipe Moyo in Swahili means “take heart, take courage”

As a leader in the group, Zainabu has been very resourceful in the startup of a unique approach to helping PLWHAS. Through community education and meetings, she has helped ensure that other members of the community protect and give support to PLWHAS.

Zainabu’s CD4 count has improved significantly, and she has discovered hope and inspires hope in others suffering from the same condition. She now earns her living as a counselor helping other women and families to protect themselves against HIV and AIDS. She also has a small-scale business selling planting seeds and cereals.

Zainabu thanks the pastor and Compassion for allowing her to be the beneficiary of a revolving loan fund, where she got Kshs 5,000 to start the business.

“Since I joined Jipe Moyo Support group, I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience on new strategies for education on HIV/AIDS and therapeutic nutrition for People Living With HIV/AIDS. I have also acquired a lot of spiritual, psychological, emotional and economic support from the group.”

Zainabu admits that she has sometimes wondered whether proclaiming her status has put her at risk of ridicule and discrimination. However, she takes it in stride and still commits herself to protecting children and caregivers against HIV and AIDS in the center. And she says that her experience with HIV has increased her faith in God.

“I was running a race moving full speed, when suddenly, Wham! I hit a wall of HIV/AIDS. I was tempted to quit, turn back in defeat, perhaps fall down and die. But I didn’t.

“I have learned a lifelong lesson that when you feel the worst, when failure is breathing down your neck, look up and reach out to hope as never before. Believe in God and like dawn in the morning, light will come pouring in. You will see a breakthrough by breaking the silence. All you have to do to speak the Word is to have faith in the Word of God and in your God-given potentials.

“Breaking the silence and disclosing one’s status is the greatest challenge. I am not going to tell you it’s easy. The truth is, it is tough. Nevertheless, pushing on through the tough times is inevitable if one is to have a breakthrough.

“Once that happens, you will never be the same. You only need to take a step of courage and break the silence to make a never dying, never-quitting champion out of you.”

In her situation, through the assistance of church staff, Zainabu has brought light to the community. The development center offers free medical camp and voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services. It also invites people in the community who are HIV-positive and are happy to speak to encourage others about their status.

Staff members raise awareness about the need for antiretroviral therapy medicines for people with HIV, raise awareness about the need to accept people with HIV or AIDS, and raise support for children whose family members have HIV- or AIDS-related illnesses.

Zainabu also encouraged her mother to go for a test, and she turned out to be HIV-positive.

“As a family, we have committed ourselves to helping other people. Our advice: Eat good food, be faithful in your marriage, go to hospital immediately when you have an infection, plan your family, keep your mind on good thoughts, and share your problems – do not hide them. I can now work hard and focus on my health and that of my family.

“I am determined to see all my children finish school, go to university and even get married. I am determined to make the most of my new life. HIV should not stop anyone from achieving his/her goals in life.”

Zainabu was able to avoid transmitting HIV to her youngest daughter during childbirth. Zainabu is a happy mother because the baby was HIV-negative.

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Martha is six months pregnant. She is expecting that perhaps this time she will hold a baby in her hands, and be able to breast-feed it until weaning age. If this happens, the baby will be her first surviving child. Martha has had two pregnancies at an interval of three years, but neither of the children were delivered safely.

She lost her first child through labor complications because she could not reach the maternal clinic early enough to get medical attention. Her second child died a few days after birth because of lack of proper care and medical treatment.

Martha is so alert and aware at this time to do all she can to have her child survive. She cannot withstand the horrible idea of losing her third child after nine months of painful pregnancy. And she wants to be respected and not mocked in the village and in the family of her husband. She hopes the child inside her will reverse this.

This is what is happening in the lives of mothers and children living in poverty. Many expectant mothers live in constant fear and anxiety of what will happen to them and their children. They risk  losing their children or their own lives, or both, through childbirth complications.

The children face myriad obstacles before they attain the age of 5 years, and their survival is oftentimes a miracle from God.

In October 2008, Tanzania started a new program to reach mothers and infants before they are eligible for the Child Sponsorship Program.

The Child Survival Program (CSP) aims at helping children survive the turbulent years in their growth, from birth to 5 years.

The inauguration of the program was graced by Dr. Emmanuel Mbennah, Compassion Tanzania’s Country Director. Dr. Mbennah applauds the mothers who came for the historic day of inauguration. He says this program will help them and their children realize God’s purpose for bringing them to the world.

Several health indicators show that Tanzania’s child mortality rate is still high. According to UNICEF, in 2006 the infant mortality rate was 74, meaning out of 1,000 babies born, 74 die before age 1.

Out of 1,000 children born, 118 will die by age 5. This is compared to six per 1,000 who die in the U.S. before 1, and eight children out of 1,000 who die before the age of 5.

According to Compassion Tanzania’s Child Survival Specialist, Rhoda A. Shimba, death rates are high, as many children die of diseases that can be treated and prevented such as diarrhea, malaria and cholera. Health services are also very far from pregnant mothers, and where they are available they do not have enough facilities to help.

Rhoda further explains that out of 100,000 pregnant mothers, 1,000 die due to the causes of pregnancy complications.

Speaking about pregnancy in Tanzania is taboo. People do not very often speak about it or mention it in public. I wanted to know from Rhoda how she managed to get women registered for the Child Survival Program.

“We prepared the mothers psychologically so that they could volunteer to be registered under the program.

“Advanced notice was sent to the community leaders through the implementing churches’ leadership to announce to community members that there is a new initiative that is starting to reach pregnant and breast-feeding mothers.

“This message worked well with the mothers. They had time to ask questions and get more informed. When the time for registration came it was not difficult.”

What also helped the message to be received without difficulty is the knowledge people have about Compassion Tanzania.

Rhoda says the aim of CSP is to reduce the child mortality rate, which according to the medical statistics available means 45,000 children die every year in Tanzania.

Welcoming the mothers into the Child Survival Program, Dr. Mbennah read the Word of God from 1 Samuel 2:8, which says,

“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world.” (NIV)

CSP aims to avert mothers and children from obvious risks so that they can attain the purpose of God for their lives. Dr. Mbennah continues,

“These risks are such as diseases and lack of food and they are caused by such things as weak economic level, poor understanding of the mother how to control her environment, culture and norms of the societies, the pains that mothers go through in their poor livelihood state and the like.”

Dr. Mbennah concluded his speech by praying for the mothers, some of whom had never been in the church setting because they came from an Islamic background.

One of the mothers explained her background and what her expectations are.

Zainabu, 26, has been married twice. She was first forced into marriage in 2001 when she was just 18 years old. Her boyfriend made her pregnant, thwarting the plan of education. She had been selected to join secondary school.

Zainabu’s parents forced the boy to marry her. At that tender age they knew very little about living as husband and wife and the responsibilities associated with it. They had very scarce resources and realized they had differences that could not allow them to live together.

They were not prepared for marriage. But their short-lived marriage left them with two children in the three years they stayed together. After divorce, Zainabu transferred to an urban setting in Arusha town to live with her uncle.

While there she met another man, Salim, who married her in 2005. They had their first child, Said, and while she was pregnant with the second child, her husband died in a accident in a Tanzanian mine in April 2008.

Now Zainabu is left with no job, no husband to provide for her child, and she is soon expecting her fourth baby. CSP has come as a big relief to her.

“If I had not got this help from Compassion it would be very difficult for me to go to the hospital, and I could not dream of that. CSP has given me hope because I know when I give birth to my child it will have a secure future.”

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