community profile
The Kiambiu slum is located in the Eastern part of Nairobi and neighbors the Kariobangi community. There is an estimated population of 60,000 residents and a majority of the households lack access to clean water and sanitation services. There are very few employment opportunities around Kiambiu and there is a high rate of HIV in this community, particularly among young women. The CARE for AIDS center in Kiambiu operates in partnership with A.I.C. (African Inland Church) Kiambiu.
center staff
Medical Counselor: Purity
Purity started with CFA in 2018. She serves as the Medical Counselor at the Kiambiu center and is passionate about empowering her clients to live a life beyond AIDS.
Spiritual Counselor: Jacob Mwanganai Ndambuki
Jacob has been employed with CFA since 2017. He is married to Felisters and has one child. Jacob grew up in Muranga county, a preacher's child, affiliated with the AIC church. Jacob knows he is called to preach the gospel to all and give hope to the hopeless. He is blessed to do that through his work at CFA.
"I dream each client will be totally reformed for Christ before the nine months period and acknowledge the love of God to them.”
center history
Year graduates Faith-Decisions Orphans prevented
2017-2018 79 18 126
2018-2019 74 15 272
2019-2020* 74 2 176
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.
client profiles
STEPHEN, 2021 CLIENT
Stephen is a 40-year-old father of 6 (4 boys and 2 girls) and married to Emmy. While we were still recruiting, he confessed that he was not willing to join us when we recruited him in the past because the life he lives is not allowing him to appear in any church. He said that alcohol, cigarettes, miraa, and cannabis are his food. He said that he only came to see whether there is a way we can help feed his family without him being involved in our activities.
At this point, we had created a good rapport and he was more than willing to share his story. He confessed that he is one of the bad boys around (a thief) and revealed the places that they meet to do these acts. When we had an opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with Stephen, we realized that he was once a Christian but he backslid due to peer pressure. We prayed with him and he left.
The following day, he came to the center and told us that he, at last, had peace of mind since we prayed with him and that for the first time in many years, he had slept without being drunk. He accepted our invitation to join the program, but his self-stigma was very high. He had even stopped taking his medication for a while, but we encouraged him to go back on his medication. Our Male Champion was a great help in this because he took him to the clinic and helped him get the medication.
Stephen struggled to stop drinking alcohol and quit illicit drugs, but by the grace of God, he is only struggling to stop smoking cigarettes now. He's not using alcohol, miraa, or cannabis anymore. He's not a thief anymore. All of his friends and also the community are amazed by the tremendous change in Stephen.
He helps us record the names of present clients and take temperatures. Because of these duties, he is the first to get to the center. Stephen has really changed and always testifies that the Lord has worked on him. His wife calls to thank us for the good work we have done in the reformation of her husband. She says that nowadays if Stephen is not going to his casual jobs, he always remains at home with their kids. She also says that Stephen's love for her is ten times more than ever before. When we go for home visits, they call their neighbors to come and have fellowship with us. Stephen is now a great help to his local church. He doesn’t miss church with all of his nuclear family. We've seen a marvelous work of God in the life of Stephen.
Daniel, 2021 Client
"It has been a tough journey for me because since I was young, I have never had joy," said 42-year-old Daniel. In February 2020, Daniel came to our center at Kiambiu having been referred. He looked discouraged and we could tell there was a lot going on in his life.
Daniel is married and a father to two boys and three girls. They live in Kiambiu slum in a single-room house. He and his wife are small business people and their four children are schooling in one of the public schools around the slum. Their firstborn is a teenager.
Daniel has been through a lot in life. Daniel's education was cut off in class eight after both his parents passed away and also because of health challenges. When he was in third grade, he was diagnosed epileptic, which caused him to drop out of school for a year. Since then, Daniel has been on medication to control the seizures. In 2010, he was admitted to the hospital for a long time for anemia. He was transfused and that's when he believes he contracted HIV (because he knew of his status the same year).
In 2014, Daniel developed a mental disorder (schizophrenia) to the extent of being admitted to a mental hospital for three months. He later recovered and rejoined his family. Although he was adhering well to his medication, his health continued to deteriorate. In 2017, Daniel's feet began to swell and since he used to do hawking, he thought it was just because he used to walk for a long distance. Due to this challenge, he changed his source of income and began to sell charcoal in order to meet his family’s needs.
In early 2018, Daniel's feet became very painful, hard, and developed sores. He was admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital and diagnosed with cancer, where he began treatment. His wife was almost giving up on him because of his health challenges. Daniel has one brother who has been of great help to him. Daniel’s brother took an emergency loan to transfer Daniel to Nazareth Hospital because of long patient cues in Kenyatta Hospital. He has been undergoing cancer treatment (chemotherapy) since 2019 until last month when he completed a total of 12 sessions of chemotherapy.
When we met Daniel in February 2020, he had open wounds which were still oozing. We spent almost two hours encouraging him and expounding on CARE for AIDS’ vision. With the help of his brother, CFA has paid for some chemotherapy sessions and also medication to boost his blood level. We have also provided gauzes, cleaning antiseptic, and medication to clean his wound. His hospital insurance funds are also up to date through CFA.
Daniel's wounds have now dried up and healed. He has completed cancer treatment and his general health has changed for the better. He has become a source of hope to many clients in our center and his joy is always evident. His relationship with God has grown and he always gives testimony of God's faithfulness.
Godfrey Obonyo, 2020 Graduate
Godfrey joined the CARE for AIDS program in Kiambiu in 2019. When he joined, he was bedridden and his health was rapidly deteriorating. His neighbors and acquaintances had told him that his only future was death, so he had lost all hope and was waisting away in his small home.
When the CARE for AIDS staff heard about Godfrey, they went to find him and enroll him in the program. Since he was bedridden, they visited him in his home for counseling sessions. He was amazed to hear that AIDS was not the end of his life. He has regained his hope for living and is improving physically every day. Even though he has graduated from the program, he stays in constant contact with the center counselors. He has found a home at CARE for AIDS and we are honored to count him as family.
Millicent, 2019 Graduate
Millicent is a single mother of two boys. Her husband died when the children were still very young and she’s been their sole provider ever since. Millicent’s husband died of complications from Tuberculosis and less than a year after he passed, she began getting sick also. At the hospital, Millicent tested positive for HIV, which led her to assume that her husband had been positive as well.
In 2003, Millicent was involved in a car accident that caused trauma to her head. She went to the hospital for treatment, but didn’t have the money to pay for the necessary tests and prescriptions. At the time, she was working in Naivasha picking flowers for a flower farm, but she started suffering from severe headaches.
Eventually, she had to quit her job and move back to Homa Bay in western Kenya. While in Home Bay, Millicent struggled to find ways to make money to send her kids to school. She decided to move again, this time to Nairobi, to work in a new job as a house manager. She was open with the family she worked for about being HIV-positive. Unfortunately, whenever the children who lived in this home got any type of sickness, the parents would blame Millicent and her HIV status for their illness. She was let go after 6 months.
Millicent started getting desperate. She no longer had a salary to pay school fees or rent, so she moved in with her cousin’s family and began doing whatever daily work she could find. Her eyes and head were bothering her more and more; often leaving her completely debilitated. Her cousin noticed the severity of Millicent’s pain and that she often wasn’t able to sleep, so she took Millicent to the hospital for a consultation. The doctor affirmed that her injury from years ago was likely the culprit of the pain she was experiencing, but he also prescribed glasses for her, noting that her poor vision was also contributing to her headaches. Unfortunately, Millicent didn’t have the money to pay for the glasses.
Not long after this, Millicent decided to start a small business selling fruits and vegetables in a stand by the roadside. She slowly began making enough to support herself again and was able to rent a home of her own. While she was working at her stand one morning, she met Anne and Jacob, the CARE for AIDS counselors at Kiambiu center. After hearing about what they do, she confided in them that she was HIV-positive and she was invited to join the CARE for AIDS program.
Grateful for all she was learning and the counseling she was receiving from Jacob and Anne, Millicent kept quiet about her pain and eye problems. She did not want to be a burden to the people who were already helping her. Over time, however, Jacob and Anne caught on to Millicent’s terrible headaches and poor eye sight. They approached her about it and she decided to show them the papers from her hospital visit from almost a year ago. After reading the doctor’s notes, Jacob and Anne were able to send Millicent back to the doctor for another consultation. They used the medical endowment fund to purchase prescription glasses for Millicent.
Her improvement was immediate. Millicent says the CARE for AIDS program has opened her eyes in more ways than one. She learned not to be ashamed or embarrassed of her medical issues and that there are people willing to help you find the care you need. She just graduated from the program in Kiambiu and is very grateful for everything she has learned.