A Week with the AIDS Virus in Eldoret, Kenya

The team is resting this afternoon after an intense week in Eldoret followed by another extremely eventful road trip.

Our time in Eldoret was focused primarily on HIV/AIDS care and support for families and individuals impacted by the epidemic. Our team visited many different families and brought gifts to the kids, women, and men who were in serious need. Dana and Anya collected some in-depth interviews of the local people and their life stories. The stories were full of hope, courage, disappointment, sadness, love, and grace. It was pretty draining to hear so many people share on such deep levels.

Each morning we would wake up to some tea and bread - then Doug would share some thoughts from the Bible with us. Then we'd head out into the slums of Eldoret.

We covered the hillsides of southern Eldoret carrying bags of medical essentials, shoes, clothes, toys, sugar, tea, flour, cooking oil, and other varied supplies. At one point we decided to split into two groups to cover more ground and provide a more intimate setting to share life details.

Our interviews revealed a very deep wound on Kenyan society inflicted by AIDS. Below is one of the stories that we encountered.

Grace is a young Kenyan lady. She was married at 16, and now has three children. She and her husband both contracted the AIDS virus. He went practically insane - turning to drinking and sex in a quick spiral toward death. He began to beat his wife and two daughters, and then one day came and took every last possession to sell for purchasing beer. At that time his wife was pregnant with their third child. Grace began to be psychologically disturbed and found her way to Dr. Oronje's clinic and the care of Nick. She was assisted through her pregnancy, and in December 2006 gave birth to her newest daughter.

She currently lives in a small mud shack with a simple mattress, a few cooking items, and her three daughters. HIV can be transmitted through breast milk, so Grace must feed her daughter formula to give her every chance of testing negative for HIV in a few weeks. Lahash and SCF are working to provide a better room for her family, support and counseling, a new bed, prayer, and protection from her husband. Thank you to each of you for your part in her story. Please continue to pray for her and her three daughters.


Eldoret has perhaps the best treatment and prevention center in all of Africa for HIV/AIDS. Indiana University has connected with the local hospital and together they offer testing, counseling, pediatric care, food donations, AIDS medications (ARVs) and life skill trainings. People come from all over the nation to visit the AMPATH center. Dr. Oronje is one of the paid staff at the facility.
We were given a full tour of AMPATH and saw where people were tested for the virus, where families (like Grace's) get food supplements. and where the thousands of HIV/AIDS patients pick up their daily ARV doses. We saw a lady giving blood to test for her CD4 count (immunity level). Finally the team each went through the AIDS testing process ourselves to find out our status and understand the process better. It was actually a frightening process seeing our blood climb up the test strip and wondering if there was a possibility that we had acquired HIV somehow. Thankfully each of the team members tested negative. For many in the area - a positive test will result in tears and possibly suicide attempts. Even for those coping with AIDS the stigma is so strong that they would never tell their neighbors and families.
We left behind many dear friends in Eldoret. The enthusiasm in the area is so strong for fighting AIDS. The young people have assembled into an impressive force. There are volunteers from churches, doctors, sport coaches, counselors, future social workers, and artists.

Last night we took our tickets that we had purchased earlier in the week to the bus station for our short (5 hour ride) to Nairobi. We found out first that our bus was in for repairs, so they transferred us to another bus line. We waited for 4 hours as bus after bus came through with no room for us on any of them. By this time it was 1:30 AM. Finally a creaking hulk of a bus came through and the crowd surged for seats (we found out that these weren't numbered seats). We got on and found out that only the back seats were available, and that the widows were broken (it gets cold driving at night by bus). We decided to get a refund, and joined a large rowdy crowd asking for their money back.

Finally we got a refund and decided to get into the little van we had been using all week to venture south to Kenya's capital. It was a cold ride with exhaust fumes and luggage making things extremely uncomfortable. With nearly 6 kilometers left to go, we ran out of fuel and finally made it to our guesthouse at about 11 AM!

Thanks for your prayers everyone. We need them as we travel these rough roads, as we encounter sicknesses (Erin fought Malaria for a couple days), cultural differences, overwhelming poverty, and frail stories of hope.

Through it all we are discovering the faith and strength of our African brothers and sisters. We are seeing that hope is alive despite the pain that many have endured. We see that God has a place for each person to love and care for the helpless neighbors we encounter. We come face to face with our own faults. And we see that God is a God that transforms lives - bringing people to face their fears and failures and turn toward the warmth of grace and a life of love. We are honored by your prayers and support.