Naivasha
Thursday morning on a nairobi Bus/Matatu stop is quite busy. First of all I had to find my way thru Nairobi downtown to find the correct stop for the Matatu to Naivasha, a 350.000 habitant city about 1,5 h drive from Nairobi. I realised how beauityful Afrika can be outside the poluted city with all its traffic and dusty roads. Just a few minutes drive when the earth turned red and the grass & trees deep green :). Well, after passing the Grand Rift Valley scarp we came to real drylands; hot - sunny - dusty
In Naivashsa, me and Johnson visited an NGO called NACOHAG (NAivasha COmmunity HIV&Aids Group). Naivasha is next to its lake and location next to the Rift Valley known for the flower business; indeed most of europs roses are from in Naivasha. The NGO is strongly linked to the local flower farms and offers VCT to the employees (about 60.000 workers are employed in Naivashas flower industry). The concept of VCT (Voluntary/Councelling/Testing) to engage people to voluntartily get informed about HIV&Aids, being tested (quick test) and attending a 1:1 councelling session about either prevention or living with HIV&Aids). VCT is about awareness, education and behaviour change.
Honestly, I was very surprised that most of the VCT are done openly in the flower farm. A counsellor is sitting in an opend meeting hall and ppl come for the test. Everybody can see who is attending. It's far not that much a tabu topic than in europe...And it"s indeed a good way of preventing/overcomnig stigmatizing ppl with HIV&Aids.
I had the chance of talking to some workers, counsellors and nurses and observing their daily business. It's like touching ground and seeing he impact of ppl, programs and the NGO. For our last stop on this visit we had to drive thru a slum-like neighbourhood. My attentions was certainly on the large amount of uniformed school kids walking thru the streets. My local guide told me that in this neighbourhood one of the largest schools of Africa is located: about 6.000 kids with upto 100 students in one class; unbelievable for the fact that quite some schools are closing in germany due to a lack of kids...
I learned as well that the amount of (very) young mothers is extremly high in that region...still lots of areas for NGOs to work on...
Next week I'll going to Naivasha again with a potential donor to discuss further programs regarding the youth. same brainstorming ideas were about special VCT programmes for kids, child-like resources for education and special counselling for kids of parents infected with HIV&Aids.
Click for some impressions of Naivasha
In Naivashsa, me and Johnson visited an NGO called NACOHAG (NAivasha COmmunity HIV&Aids Group). Naivasha is next to its lake and location next to the Rift Valley known for the flower business; indeed most of europs roses are from in Naivasha. The NGO is strongly linked to the local flower farms and offers VCT to the employees (about 60.000 workers are employed in Naivashas flower industry). The concept of VCT (Voluntary/Councelling/Testing) to engage people to voluntartily get informed about HIV&Aids, being tested (quick test) and attending a 1:1 councelling session about either prevention or living with HIV&Aids). VCT is about awareness, education and behaviour change.
Honestly, I was very surprised that most of the VCT are done openly in the flower farm. A counsellor is sitting in an opend meeting hall and ppl come for the test. Everybody can see who is attending. It's far not that much a tabu topic than in europe...And it"s indeed a good way of preventing/overcomnig stigmatizing ppl with HIV&Aids.
I had the chance of talking to some workers, counsellors and nurses and observing their daily business. It's like touching ground and seeing he impact of ppl, programs and the NGO. For our last stop on this visit we had to drive thru a slum-like neighbourhood. My attentions was certainly on the large amount of uniformed school kids walking thru the streets. My local guide told me that in this neighbourhood one of the largest schools of Africa is located: about 6.000 kids with upto 100 students in one class; unbelievable for the fact that quite some schools are closing in germany due to a lack of kids...
I learned as well that the amount of (very) young mothers is extremly high in that region...still lots of areas for NGOs to work on...
Next week I'll going to Naivasha again with a potential donor to discuss further programs regarding the youth. same brainstorming ideas were about special VCT programmes for kids, child-like resources for education and special counselling for kids of parents infected with HIV&Aids.
Click for some impressions of Naivasha
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