Stories from Africa: Kagogo, Kenya
“I am Mary Adhiambo aged 36 years. I was married in the year 1994 and God blessed me with 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. My firstborn is 14yrs old and last born is 3yrs old. In 2002 my husband became sick and was treated for malaria and typhoid and recovered well.
After one month he fell sick again, was taken to hospital and was treated again for malaria and typhoid. The sickness started becoming frequent and I had a question mark on his sickness. He started having frequent diarrhea, which only subsided while admitted in the hospital. This was because while in hospital he took plenty of "Dasani water" bottle water brought to him by friends. He stayed in a clean environment because nurses washed the linen every day and bathed him after passing diarrhea. This was not possible at home because we had no clean water in our village Kagago and I was an unemployed mother. I could not buy bottled water because of strained financial resources.
A high hospital bill forced us to discharge him to continue with nursing care at home. Before discharge we decided to know our serology status. When we were tested for HIV, both results turned to be positive. I was a bit depressed with my positive results for 2 weeks. During this time my husband still had persistent diarrhea. I was also sick. My husband was too weak to visit a latrine so he relieved himself on the beddings. Since my children were still young I had to do the laundries work alone.
The only stressing issue was lack of water to wash our soiled linen. There were water vendors in the community and a Jeri can of 20 litres was being sold at 20 ksh, and this was too expensive for me. I could walk for over 5 km in search of free water from the river to fill a 20 ltrs Jeri can. This would only be used for washing two bed sheets only. I used to take a whole day looking for water, for cleaning my husband and this left me with no water for other domestic chores like cooking, drinking and for our only family cow which we were given by a well wisher who sympathized with us, to milk and sell milk and raise money for buying drugs for my sick husband. With the continued diarrhea and no proper hygiene due to lack of clean, safe water and poor sanitation, my husband was re-infected with typhoid germs and cholera and because of low immunity caused by HIV/Aids he was unable to improve and he passed away in 2005.
Being an HIV/AIDS positive widow, I sought help from a health facility and they gave me drugs
to boost my immunity. I gained strength and joined a women group called Kagago. In the group they encouraged me on my health issues and I felt loved. While in the group they had applied for a borehole drilling with a NGO GWAKO Ministries and they followed up until the group was blessed to have a community borehole. The borehole has changed my life and I am no longer the same. I have been trained on Health, Hygiene and Sanitation issues with the group facilitated by GWAKO Ministries. I have started my own kitchen garden and have planted tomatoes, vegetables and onions which I sell and get money for my domestic use.
My last born boy is also HIV positive and I am able to keep him clean and neat because there is plenty of water which I use for washing his soiled linen and boil some for drinking. I have enough time to take care of my sick child because I get water a distance of less than 100m not like before when my husband was sick and I had to walk for not less than 5km in search of water of water and had no time to be with my husband because I had to make several trips to get water that could also be used for other activities a part from washing his soiled linen.
I am able to educate my children who are in lower primary because I have income generating activities that enables me to buy school uniforms, books and also pay for exams fee. Due to health and Hygiene training I am able to prevent other diseases by simply hand washing with soap. So the money that would have been used for buying drugs is now used for buying food and other things. I am always neat and my home is clean and no bad smell that comes as a result of unwashed linen like before when my husband was sick.
Apart from missing my late husband whose life was shortened due to opportunistic diseases caused by lack of clean and safe water; I now live a happy life with my four children who are all in lower primary school. I am happy that they will be able to read and write because of the water project sponsored by GWAKO Ministries in collaboration with her partners."
A high hospital bill forced us to discharge him to continue with nursing care at home. Before discharge we decided to know our serology status. When we were tested for HIV, both results turned to be positive. I was a bit depressed with my positive results for 2 weeks. During this time my husband still had persistent diarrhea. I was also sick. My husband was too weak to visit a latrine so he relieved himself on the beddings. Since my children were still young I had to do the laundries work alone.
The only stressing issue was lack of water to wash our soiled linen. There were water vendors in the community and a Jeri can of 20 litres was being sold at 20 ksh, and this was too expensive for me. I could walk for over 5 km in search of free water from the river to fill a 20 ltrs Jeri can. This would only be used for washing two bed sheets only. I used to take a whole day looking for water, for cleaning my husband and this left me with no water for other domestic chores like cooking, drinking and for our only family cow which we were given by a well wisher who sympathized with us, to milk and sell milk and raise money for buying drugs for my sick husband. With the continued diarrhea and no proper hygiene due to lack of clean, safe water and poor sanitation, my husband was re-infected with typhoid germs and cholera and because of low immunity caused by HIV/Aids he was unable to improve and he passed away in 2005.
Being an HIV/AIDS positive widow, I sought help from a health facility and they gave me drugs
to boost my immunity. I gained strength and joined a women group called Kagago. In the group they encouraged me on my health issues and I felt loved. While in the group they had applied for a borehole drilling with a NGO GWAKO Ministries and they followed up until the group was blessed to have a community borehole. The borehole has changed my life and I am no longer the same. I have been trained on Health, Hygiene and Sanitation issues with the group facilitated by GWAKO Ministries. I have started my own kitchen garden and have planted tomatoes, vegetables and onions which I sell and get money for my domestic use.
My last born boy is also HIV positive and I am able to keep him clean and neat because there is plenty of water which I use for washing his soiled linen and boil some for drinking. I have enough time to take care of my sick child because I get water a distance of less than 100m not like before when my husband was sick and I had to walk for not less than 5km in search of water of water and had no time to be with my husband because I had to make several trips to get water that could also be used for other activities a part from washing his soiled linen.
I am able to educate my children who are in lower primary because I have income generating activities that enables me to buy school uniforms, books and also pay for exams fee. Due to health and Hygiene training I am able to prevent other diseases by simply hand washing with soap. So the money that would have been used for buying drugs is now used for buying food and other things. I am always neat and my home is clean and no bad smell that comes as a result of unwashed linen like before when my husband was sick.
Apart from missing my late husband whose life was shortened due to opportunistic diseases caused by lack of clean and safe water; I now live a happy life with my four children who are all in lower primary school. I am happy that they will be able to read and write because of the water project sponsored by GWAKO Ministries in collaboration with her partners."
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