Grandparents bearing the burden of AIDS orphans

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.

Later, working as photojournalist, Mr Masi would come face to face with orphans left under the care of their grandmothers.

“In the course of duty, I saw many grandmothers going through similar struggles and this inspired me to tell the whole world that this is how a grandmother lives after the death of her children, caring for her grandchildren single-handedly without employment,” he added.

This is the eventuality that many grandmothers in Samia District have had to grapple with. While old age is usually the time when one relaxes and enjoys the sunset years, this has not been the case for the senior citizens.

Frail shoulders

Additional responsibilities are thrust on their frail shoulders as they take up the task of raising grandchildren orphaned by Aids.

These orphans comprise about a tenth of the population in the district that has been ravaged by the disease.

Dr Otuoma says the disease’s prevalence in the district stands at 16 per cent.

“This is about three times the national prevalence rate,” he says.

Three years ago, a 23 per cent prevalence rate was recorded in the district.

The situation is aggravated by high poverty levels estimated at up to 71 per cent. With their advanced age, the grandparents are unable to engage in strenuous economic activities.

Dr Otuoma says that about 10,000 people in the district are permanently on food aid. He blames the loss of young people to Aids in Samia District on cultural practices and irresponsible sex.

He says that in the run up to this year’s KCPE, he visited a school in the district, which had 11 pregnant schoolgirls.

“This is a worrying trend since they are underage,” he adds.

Even with the disease’s high prevalence in Samia District, care for those infected is wanting. Dr Otuoma says that out of the 16,000 people living with the virus, only 1,800 have been put on anti-retroviral therapy.

Access to facilities where the disease can be tested is also abysmally poor, with only three voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) facilities serving the district.

“More health facilities need to be set up in this district,” he says.

Probably, this is one of the reasons for the low awareness about testing, especially among fishing communities along the shores of the lake and on the islands.

Now, the MP is calling for an urgent behavioural change, arguing that some of these practices go against efforts to counter the disease.

Dr Otuoma said it was saddening that many people were suffering in the villages due to Aids and called for a combined effort to address the situation so that those affected and those who are infected can lead normal lives.

“While the other players could help us in dealing with the disease, we are the only ones who can stop its spread,” he says.

Ms Beinstock says the country has been one of the main beneficiaries of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which targets mitigating effects of the disease in Africa.

So far, the country has received over Sh100 billion in the four-year life span of the fund.