Alice and Ann are sisters. Together, they joined the CARE for AIDS program in Waithaka in 2015. Not long after enrollment, Ann had a stroke and had to drop out of the program; half of her body had been paralyzed. Her sister, Alice, unfortunately, wasn’t much better off. She struggled with an alcohol addiction and was drinking every day. She continued to participate in the CARE for AIDS program, but would often show up to the church drunk for her counseling sessions and group seminars. Alice was resistant to the Gospel at first, but slowly her heart softened. The teachings she heard at the CARE for AIDS program would stay with her and she would reflect on them for hours once she returned home. She would listen to the testimonies and transformational stories of others in the program and was encouraged that she, too, could change. Alice came to know Christ as her personal savior during her time in the CARE for AIDS program. She graduated as a very different woman than when she began the program nine months prior. “My life was completely transformed,” she says.
Knowing how the testimonies of others had impacted her life, Alice began sharing her testimony. One of the people she shared her story with was her cousin Priscilla. After learning that her cousin was also HIV-positive, Alice encouraged Priscilla to join the CARE for AIDS program. When Priscilla joined the program at Waithaka last year, she was bedridden. While she was in the program, Priscilla came to know Christ as her personal savior. She also received medical and nutritional assistance and when she graduated in December of 2017 she was able to walk and dance with her fellow graduates in celebration.
Ann has slowly recovered from her stroke paralysis in 2015. She is fully mobile again and the only thing still affected is one of her hands, which keeps her from being able to grasp things like pens, utensils or cups. Having dropped out of the program in 2015, Ann re-enrolled in the program at Waithaka in March of this year. Since she’s not able to write, Alice joins her for all of the activities at the center to take notes for her. Alice is also relearning some of the skills alongside her sister. They hold one another accountable in taking their medication, saving their earnings, and practicing the skills they learn.