community profile
Ruiru is a town located on Thika Road. A high amount of prostitution in the community contributes to the spread of HIV, and there are many bars and home brew stores surrounding the slum. CARE for AIDS started operation of the center in partnership with Kitambaa Bible Baptist Church in Ruiru in May of 2011. Aggrey Mwera and Esther Kabura serve as the center's Spiritual and Health Counselors (pictured below).
center staff
HEALTH COUNSELOR: ESTHER KABURU
Esther joined the CARE for AIDS team in 2013. She has faithfully served clients in Ruiru since joining us and loves seeing the transformation in their lives.
"My dream for our clients is that they will live long and be able to raise their children and grandchildren.”
SPIRITUAL COUNSELOR: AGGREY MWERA
Aggrey joined the CARE for AIDS team in 2011 and is one of the longest employed center staff members on the team. He is passionate about his job and has faithfully counseled over 400 clients throughout his seven years in Ruiru.
“My favorite part of my job is when I am able to lead someone to Christ!"
center history
Year graduates Faith-Decisions Orphans prevented
2011-2012 77 27 255
2012-2013 71 19 200
2013-2014 74 12 214
2014-2015 73 8 200
2015-2016 65 14 273
2016-2017 58 5 170
2017-2018 68 9 168
2018-2019 68 15 205
2019-2020* 70 8 201
2020-2021 TBD TBD TBD
*The cohort in the 2019-2020 class was impacted by delays in the CARE for AIDS program caused by COVID-19 lockdowns and health precautions. To learn more about how we responded to the pandemic, visit this page.
graduate profiles
Danan, 2021 client
For five years, Danan had defaulted from taking her HIV medication as required. When she joined our program, we prioritized getting her back on medication. Through regular visits to her home, she finally accepted.
Danan is now adhering to treatment and her health is improving. She’s very thankful for the help she received from our center. During the third month of our program, Danan fell sick and had no one to help. The CARE for AIDS program staff took her to the hospital. She received treatment and recovered fully. Every time she comes to our center, she is always reminding us how she would be dead had we not intervened. She is grateful that her life has been saved.
Ibo, 2018 Ruiru graduate:
Ibo is a 37-year-old single mom to five children ranging in age from 20 to 7 years old. Ibo found out that she was HIV positive in 2011 when she was pregnant with her youngest child. Since then, she has been living with strong self-stigma because of her status. When she gave birth to the baby, she was so ashamed that she rejected the child, often leaving him locked inside their home all day long without care hoping he would die. Miraculously, her baby survived.
Through the CARE for AIDS counseling, group therapy, and seminars, Ibo has overcome her self-stigma. She is now able and willing to talk openly about her HIV status with others and is no longer ashamed about it. She used to despise herself because of her status, but she is learning to accept who she is and be proud again. She also become self-reliant through the various skills she has learned in our program. She has learned how to make yogurt, peanut butter, bar soap, liquid soap and detergent. She is able to use these skills to make money to buy food and support her children.
When Ibo started the CARE for AIDS program, she was sick with stomach ulcers and weighed only 70 pounds because she wasn't getting enough to eat. She became so weak that she was no longer able to walk further than a few feet. Through the CARE for AIDS medical endowment fund, she was taken to the hospital and received treatment for her ulcers. She is thankful for the medical support and nutritional supplements from CARE for AIDS; because of this help her ulcers have healed and she has gained almost 25 pounds over the past few months. She is also now walking all the way to the CARE for AIDS center for seminars and counseling. She may be tiny in stature, but says she feels herself getting stronger every day.
Ibo is a Muslim, yet she enjoys and feels comfortable attending all of the CFA activities and counseling at the church where our staff have an opportunity to share the gospel and point her to our hope in Jesus. She says she knows that God has been the one who has sustained her and her children during the last 7 years.