Grandparents bearing the burden of AIDS orphans

• Grandmothers thrust into motherhood all over again as their children succumb to Aids

Ms Fridah Makokha sat pensively in the audience, her chin cupped in her palm. Her eyes were fixed on a gigantic screen, where a movie was being beamed.

She was starring in the local movie that was “premiering” at Namboboto Secondary School in Samia District.

Though the launch did not have the flamboyance that accompanies movie premieres in Hollywood, Mama Makokha, 70, had the pride of a star.

The film, Grandmother’s Tribe, is about her life — her struggles to make ends meet for herself and her grandson, Emanuel Wafula, who was orphaned by Aids.

“I’m happy to be used as a messenger in the fight against this disease because I have lost five children to it,” she said.

She added: “I used to hide in my house and cry, but since I played a role in the film, I have drastically changed and I no longer fear to speak about Aids, which is claiming our children”.

The film, which was partly shot in 2006 at her Mudoba Village home in Samia District, chronicles the plight of the grandmothers. Part of the film was shot in Kibera, Nairobi.

It was produced and directed by filmmakers from New Zealand and Canada with help from the US government.

During the recent launch, in the depths of Funyula constituency, residents were accorded the rare luxury of watching a film on big screen.

And it was not just film with an alien story line and characters — it was about an all too familiar back yard, starring their relatives and neighbours.

“We intend show the movie to a wider audience,” said the cultural officer at the American embassy, Ms Ellen Beinstock, who was the chief guest.

Ms Beinstock said that her office was determined to screen it to the whole world in order to support the organisers’ commitment to telling the story.

The strategy, she said, was to show it to smaller groups, communities, churches and youth groups.

“We hope that people will learn from the film,” she added.

The ultimate goal of the film project, Ms Beinstock said, was to ensure that someday, grandmothers would be relieved of the burden of caring for their grandchildren orphaned by Aids.

Area MP Paul Otuoma, who attended the launch, said the film was an eye-opener as it had taught many Kenyans what was happening and yet had been ignored.

“We need to take up the challenge and face the fight against Aids, which seems to be wiping out our society and leaving many orphans to be cared for by their elderly,” the minister said.

The brain behind the film was Mr Felix Masi, the director of Voiceless Children in Kenya, who drew from personal experiences, having lost his mother when he was only eight.