community profile
The CARE for AIDS center in the Miritini community (a suburb of Mombasa) launched in 2017. The center is hosted in the Kenya Assemblies of God Church of Miritini. The Miritini community is in the Changamwe Sub-County, which is the Sub-County ranked second in HIV-prevalence in Mombasa. There are approximately 30,000 people living in the Miritini community, many of whom live in informal settlements and work day laborer jobs in the various Export Processing Zones near the neighborhood.
center staff
HEALTH COUNSELOR, CLARE SHIEUNDA:
Clare joined the CARE for AIDS team in 2017. She is passionate about her work in the Miritini community and loves working with the clients.
"I love working at CARE for AIDS because it enables me to reach out and help the community.
SPIRITUAL COUNSELOR, SOLOMON KYENGO:
Solomon joined the CARE for AIDS team in 2017 and has faithfully served clients in Miritini as the center's spiritual counselor. In the most recent graduating class, Solomon was honored to lead 20 clients to faith.
center history
Year graduates Faith-Decisions Orphans prevented
2017-2018 67 20 273
2018- 2019 76 15 203
2019-2020* 78 28 228
2020-2021 71 8 196
*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
Mwanaisha, 2021 GRADUATE
Mwanaisha is a 30-year-old married woman with three children. She was recruited to the program in November 2020 along with her husband. When they first entered the program, Mwanaisha’s husband had a lot of stigma. Mwanaisha was lonely and had no friends. She was also sick (asthmatic and anemic) and did not have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Through counseling, Mwanaisha gave her life to Christ, is going to church, and is committed to serving Christ. She was also assisted through the medical fund and her health stabilized.
In group therapy, Mwanaisha opened up. She was able to graduate having made new friends and express herself without fear. Mwanaisha has also learned several skills that she is implementing to support her family. She is grateful for having joined the program!
Alice, 2020 Graduate
Alice is a tall energetic mother of two daughters. She had been living in extreme poverty for most of her life and found no other option but to work in the sex industry. She joined the CARE for AIDS program shortly after she learned that she had contracted HIV, and her health was rapidly deteriorating. Through months counseling and prayer from the center counselors, she gave her life to Christ and her life changed completely.
She developed a positive attitude towards all center activities, and she mastered a variety of skills by the time of graduation. She was empowered to leave the sex industry and she now earns a living through bead work, soap making, and candle making. Alice also trains other women in her neighborhood and support group in these skills. She is full of hope when she thinks of the future- a true example of what it means to live a life beyond AIDS.
Hadija, 2018 Graduate
When Hadija joined the CARE for AIDS program in 2017 she was strongly committed to Islam. She often wondered why she felt led to join a program hosted in a Christian church, but it all became clear to her when her husband suddenly passed away. The love and support she received from her classmates and counselors during that difficult time made her see the program as a gift from God. Her husband had been the income generator of their family, but because she was in the CARE for AIDS program, she was already learning skills so that she could employ herself and earn enough money to sustain her life after his death. “I am now a businesswoman,” she says.
Not only did she learn skills in the program, but Hadija also learned through the program how to forgive her husband. She had held bitterness in her heart for many years because she suspected her husband had infected her with HIV, but through CARE for AIDS she was able to understand the power of forgiveness and offered it to her husband before he died.
Through CARE for AIDS, Hadija says she feels that she’s been drawn closer to God. She completed the entire Christian devotion booklet she received in her spiritual counseling sessions and she recently received her first Bible. She is currently reading her Bible and often shares what she’s read with her friends and neighbors. Hadija recently graduated from the CARE for AIDS program in Miritini, Mombasa and is thriving. She is currently helping out at other CARE for AIDS centers by encouraging and motivating Muslim clients to join and stay active in all parts of the program. We are excited to see God continue to draw her to Himself through her community, the local church, and the Word.
Economic Empowerment seminar at Miritini Center, 2018
"I finally believe it is possible to send my children to University." - Betty, 2018 Miritini Center Graduate