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This story of three young men impacted by the Community Health Information Center was related to Pauline Karani by Mary Makokha, Coordinator of the Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Program (REEP). The Butula Center is under the umbrella of REEP.
Traditional Flow of Information
Recently, three young men came to the Butula Community Health Information Center (CHIC) just to satisfy their curiosity. They had heard much about the Center but didn't quite know what to expect. These days, the topic of conversation around town is the new Center. In the street corners, if the narrow dirt footpaths can be called that, people gather to discuss what they have seen or heard at the Center. Even in most homes, conversations for the past months have revolved around the Center's activities.
People are very surprised to find that the computers actually show pictures of diseases and have audio explanations of the details highlighted in the photos. After seeing the CD-ROM tutorial on ukimwi, Kiswahili for AIDS, they often tell their friends and family, "After you see the one on ukimwi you will never be the same again!"
As people listen to the reports of what is available at the Center, they began to take note and decide to pay a visit themselves to see if they can find help for an ailing family member. When they do come to the Center, they often come as a group.
The three young men arrived with some nervousness about how the Center and its computers could give them information they could understand and actually use. But they were encouraged by the success stories from friends who had visited the Center earlier and by the fact that they knew staff members who could explain the information in Kiluhya, their dialect.
True to the stories they had heard, the friendly staff quickly helped them to access the information they needed. While going through several of the CD-ROMs they recognized their brother's illness in one of them. They decided to bring him to the counseling center the next day so that he could talk with the counselors and, if he consented, have an HIV test to prove whether or not their suspicions were correct.
Early the next day the three youths put their sick brother on a bicycle and wheeled him to the counseling center. The counselors met with the brother and advised him to have an HIV test. He agreed to this and was found to be HIV positive.
The brothers also decided to be tested since they too had engaged in risky behavior and were afraid that they might have the virus, too. Luckily they did not. One of them exclaimed, "Now that I know I don't have the virus, I will make sure I don't get it!"
The counselors advised them on how to look after their sick brother and how to protect themselves from getting infected. They went home with mixed feelings; they were happy that they did not have the virus and yet sad for they knew they did not have long before their brother died. He was, after all, in the last stage of AIDS. As they were leaving the Center, one of them mused, "Maybe if the Center had been established much earlier their brother would have been saved from the virus." Perhaps.
WiRED's Role
Our aim in WiRED is to reach as many young people as possible with the message of HIV/AIDS prevention so that they will not have ignorance as an excuse. Our hope is that you can find it in yourself to partner with us to make this possible and perhaps many young lives will be saved by your contribution. Several years from now, when you hear that the numbers of people with HIV in Kenya have been reduced, you can confidently say you made a difference.
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