Community health servants make a difference

originally appearing in AfricaNews in September 2000

By Thomas Japanni

As the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to wreak havoc on society, communities are waking up to the realities of its effects on both the economic and social fabric of the population.

The Wahuduma wa Afya (Health Servants) is a Catholic programme that caters for all people without distinction. One unique aspect of the programme is that it is community based and services are offered free. Members come from the Small Christian Communities.

Currently, more than a hundred members visit the sick, in pairs, in three sprawling parishes in Mombasa West. The project director is Brother John Mullen, a Maryknoll Missionary, assisted by several Sisters of St. Joseph and Mrs. Elizabeth Mugo, a pioneer member and social worker of long standing, who assists with the training of new volunteers.

The Wahuduma visit the sick in their homes. They offer medicine, support, and referrals for the more delicate cases. Counseling is an integral part of the programme food is offered in more needy cases. They do not offer treatment, but care for the sick materially and spiritually.

The programme has done very well in all the parishes where it has been implemented, since its inception in 1996 in Bomu parish. With an initial twenty-five volunteers serving a similar number of patients, the programme has now grown to include five trained nurses, two counselors, and more than a hundred volunteers, who have undergone training in primary health care and counseling. They now visit around a thousand patients in various stages of the HIV/AIDS infection. This is apart from other illnesses.

On 26 February 2000, the Wahuduma organized a one-day seminar for all its members at Star of the Sea Residence, Mombasa. The focus of the seminar was on HIV/AIDS: how the health workers can combat its spread and the kind of care to be offered to the sufferers. Three Sisters of St. Joseph were the animators. Rose Mwakio, a mother of three, really captured the mood of the participants with her moving account of how she came to be diagnosed as HIV positive. She told of her denials and the many times she had looked death in the face. She urged the participants and society at large to offer more care and sensitivity to sufferers.

Archbishop John Njenga, who closed the seminar, stressed the importance of the programme, calling it “a labour of love,” in line with Jesus' own ministry here on earth. He referred to the Bishops' Pastoral Letter for the year 2000, which emphasizes the Catholic Church's role in the fight against HIV/AIDS, which he termed “a disaster.”

Already 200,000 people are projected to die of HIV/AIDS in Kenya alone this year. Millions of others are infected and are passing on the virus day by day. This, he said, calls for the education of youth concerning human relationships and human dignity.

Sr. Augustina, a trained nurse and a pioneer member of the Wahuduma wa Afya, went to a slum area of Nairobi for a month's hands-on experience with their Wahuduma project. Previously she had only worked in hospitals. From Nairobi she came back to help establish the programme in Bomu with Brother John and Mrs. Mugo. She is now coordinator of the programme in another parish, assisted by Margaret Mwakio, a volunteer who has just come back from Mwanza, Tanzania, where she had gone for a course in clinical counseling.

As a Christian ministry of health care, the programme does not offer clinical services alone. The health Servants are just as much concerned for the patients' spiritual well-being.

“We are made in the image of God,” said Sr. Augustina, “and that is best reflected in our concern for the next person's relationship with Him. Do they know God personally? If not, then we usually offer to lead them to a personal relationship with Him. Most of the people we visit, especially those who are HIV positive, are often very sick and on the verge of death. Many are in a confused state, bitter, and highly irritable. Nevertheless, with sustained health care and good spiritual counseling, they come to terms with their situations and are often reconciled to God and to themselves.”

Since the Wahuduma work among people of diverse religions, especially Islam, how does it work? Have there been problems? Sr. Genoveva replied, “There have been instances where we have been viewed with suspicion or even hostility. But in general the majority have been welcoming. We in turn have been sensitive to their faiths and religions. We have even requested Sheikhs to come in, in cases where we've seen the need for spiritual counseling and the patient was a Moslem.”

Sr. Genoveva was initially involved with the programme's work in Bomu. Now she is setting up the same project in Voi, a town many miles inland from Mombasa. She is working closely with Sr. Clotilde Kulola, a trained nurse. The program is funded by the Maryknoll Missionaries and by Caritas-Germany. This service of the Wahuduma wa Afya highlights the wisdom of the decision of the AMECEA Bishops to make the development of Small Christian Communities a priority - since it is their members who volunteer to be Health Servants.

Two Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, Sr. Domenica Ciliberti and Sr. Dolores Fortier, are involved in the AIDS ministry in a nearby parish. Sr. Domencia visits the sick and cares for the families with the team of the Wahuduma. Sr. Dolores is involved with a project for AIDS orphans. There is a great deal of networking in these projects in order to combat the devastating effects of the AIDS pandemic.

Reprinted from: White Fathers - White Sister, October/November 2000, Issue No. 354, pg. 24.

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Maryknollers in Mombasa, Kenya