Chinese, African AIDS NGOs meet

NAIROBI?- More than two dozen adolescent peer educators in Kenya met their Chinese counterparts in the country's capital, Nairobi, for a training workshop on peer-to-peer HIV/AIDS education Aug 28.

The workshop was co-organized by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) and the NGO Co-ordination Board of Kenya. It is the preface for the China-Africa People's Forum to be held from Aug 29 to 30, and is the first NGO exchange between China and Africa.

"Peer-to-peer education is very effective at preventing HIV/AIDS among young people," said Wang Weilong, a 21-year-old Chinese volunteer working for the China Family Planning Association and who gave a training session to his Kenyan peers during the workshop. "Because young people can often discuss difficult and sometimes sensitive questions like love, sex and abortion in a straightforward and frank fashion without worrying about being stigmatized."

Wang said an important part of his training session is to let his peers feel what is like to live with HIV/AIDS. It's more than just carrying the virus - stigma and discrimination hurts more, he said.

Among those who were present at the opening ceremony of the workshop, five kids in particular drew the attention of attendees.

Nine-year-old Erick Owino lost his parents when he was five. He lives at a community based rescue center in Nairobi with 23 other orphans.

Most of their parents died of AIDS.

"I don't know exactly how many kids are like Erick (in Kenya)," said Grace Muthoni, the manager of the rescue center named MaxFacta, short for "maximizing facts on HIV-AIDS," "but the situation is pathetic," she said.

According to statistics compiled by the Joint United Nation Programme on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, there were about 33.3 million people living with HIV globally in 2009, and 1.8 million people died of AIDS-related diseases in the same year. Sub-Saharan Africa alone shares 68% of the global HIV population.

Grace Muthoni (center) with children from MaxFacta. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

"People with HIV are still very much stigmatized in Kenya," Muthoni said, noting that even their kids, who are healthy, have to carry the stigma.

The 36-year-old community organizer lost her best friend to AIDS many years ago. She was left with her friend's three kids, and that was when she decided to start MaxFacta to help more orphans.

Muthoni cares for 24 orphans, but she has no donors at all. She runs a small business, but the income can hardly cover the cost of the rescue center. Muthoni and her three staff members often have to sell their labor like washing, cleaning and making handcrafts to meet costs.

She said if things go well a kid can live on 200 Kenyan shillings ($2.1) for three simple meals per day, though their schooling costs are also an issue.

"Sometimes they would have to go hungry," Muthoni said. "It's never enough."

Taking care of orphans whose parents died of AIDS is one measure taken by communities in Kenya. Many non-government organizations like the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network (KELIN) are working on eliminating discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS?- and their children.

"So that when they go to school, people would not avoid kissing and hugging them," said Allan Maleche, KELIN's coordinator.

Stigmatization of HIV/AIDS also largely exists in China, Wang said. People living with HIV/AIDS are very much restricted from social and professional life. Because of worrying about being stigmatized, they may try to hide the fact that they have been infected from the public. Wang said this would hinder the free flow of information and communication, and might even result in more infection.

The situation applies to Kenya, as well.

"I think if we could eliminate the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS, it would just be treated like any other type of disease," Maleche said.