Youth and HIV in Kenya

Nyanza youth bear the highest HIV burden in Kenya. However, in the great North Eastern Region, more youth than adults are infected (1.0% compared to 0.9%, respectively)

Read more about Youth and HIV in Kenya

Contraception Promotes Women's and Girls' Health

(NAIROBI). As the world celebrates the international day for contraceptive awareness, only two out of five women aged 15-49 in North Eastern region are currently using a modern contraceptive method. For this reason, number of births per woman has remained high at approximately 5.9 (according to the Kenya Demographic Survey (KDHS), 2008-09).

The World Contraceptive Day is a global event celebrated on 26^th September annually. In Kenya, the day is used to take stock of the progress being made in managing the population. The government uses this forum to inform and educate its population on the dangers of rapid population growth as well as the benefits of contraception. Between 1999 and 2009, Kenya’s population grew at one million a year moving from 28.6 million to 38.9 million.

The government has ensured provision of contraceptive methods to all who need them. These are available for free in all government health facilities.

A Prayer for Kenya

LORD, give your servant a discerning heart

A heart to govern your people and this great nation, Kenya

Wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong

Wisdom to rule justly

Like Solomon, our ruler is young

And our nation great and adorned

Let nations hold him in awe

For greatness and glory are yours

Give him the courage of David

And anoint him thus

Cause him to walk in righteousness

And may your glory back him up thus

Like with Moses, you have heard our cry

Strengthen his resolve oh LORD

To lead your people yonder

LORD be with him

Lose your sight not on us LORD we pray

Let not your people falter and fall

Walk us in your path

For greatness and glory are yours

Loosen the chains of injustice

And set the captives, oppressed free

Let barren lands, seas and men bear fruit

And your glory radiate throughout Kenya

All nations will hold her in awe

Marvelling at her prosperity and beauty

And all peoples shall bow before you oh LORD

For it will be your making – world without end

M Mwaila

Silhouettes2

Malindi, April 2012

My next stop, after Nakuru, was the coastal town of Malindi. Being at the shores of the Indian Ocean, a bit of humidity is expected especially for the discerning visitor. The rising and setting of the sun leaves a memorable mark – what with the tall palm trees that seem to usher the godly ball of light in and out of mother earth!

It is here that I receive horrendous accounts of sexual violence meted especially on children (both male and female). Malindi, like Mtwapa is a hotspot for child sex tourism. I remembered a UNICEF study of 2008-2009 on child sex tourism at the Kenyan Coastal region. A social worker related to me how children are being lured out of school to sell sex. Since the hotels no longer condone the ghastly sight of old tourists running around with small girls/boys (thanks to the signing of the code of ethics), the business has shifted to privately owned cottages as beach-boys hone their pimping skills.

Silhouettes

Nakuru, April 2012

The reality of gender violence in Kenya is horrid! The silence in which sexual violence is shrouded is unwittingly annoying and disturbing.

The accounts are well written

On their faces, in their eyes

Engraved in their hearts and soul

The hurt is overwhelming

But, hush! Their lips remain sealed

The voice long gone – a distant hollow

The road to justice, overgrown

A HUNDRED KENYAN SHILLINGS FOR WATAMU

13 primary school going girls are currently pregnant in a school in Watamu, Malindi, Kenya. Most girls had to pay in kind to access one essential basic need - sanitary towels!

You can Help  keep our girls in school by donating a packet of pads that costs approximately Kes.100.-

Send your Donations to:
BoraBora Innovations
Account No. 00201100048738
Equity Bank, Fourways Branch
Nairobi

Obstetric Fistula: A Challenge for Early Marriages

KARACHI, Pakistan, Apr 13, 2012 (IPS) :
As is the custom in the remote mountain village of Kohadast in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan province, Bano was married off as soon as she reached adolescence, at 15, and was pregnant the following year.

There being no healthcare facility near Kohadast, Bano did not receive antenatal care and no one thought there would be complications. But, events were to prove different.

After an extended labour lasting three days, Bano delivered a dead baby. "I never saw the colour of my son’s eyes or his hair. I never held him once to my bosom," recalls Bano. Unknown to her the prolonged labour had taken a toll on Bano’s young body. She had developed a fistula caused by the baby’s head pressing hard against the lining of the birth canal and tearing into the walls of her rectum and the bladder.
A week after the childbirth ordeal, Bano realised she was always wet with urine and reeking of faecal matter. "I was passing urine and stools together."

Bano’s family attributed her condition to fate, her father refusing to visit "due to the bad odour coming from me." However, through those trying times, Khan stood by his young wife and sought medical help.

After Bano spent a year in a perpetually "wet and stinky" condition, her husband finally discovered a hospital in Karachi specialising in treating fistula and other conditions related to reproductive health. "I smell nice now and it’s all because my husband wanted me to get well," said Bano, who may have spent many more years in a miserable state if not for the treatment at Koohi Goth.


Kenya, 2010: Human Rights Watch

Kwamboka became pregnant at age 13 while in primary school, developed fistula, and lived with it for seven years before hearing on the radio about a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funded fistula repair camp offering free surgeries. She told us, “I didn’t know anything about family planning or condoms. I just went once and got pregnant.” Despite some government efforts to introduce sexuality education in upper primary and secondary schools, its teaching remains awry given the lack of ownership ( not part of the official syllabus) thus lack of time allocation.

Malindi Kenya, April 2012: M. Mwaila

13 girls in upper primary in a school in Watamu are currently pregnant! Given their immature bodies, all face the danger of developing fistula at childbirth especially considering the poor healthcare and rights awareness within the community, poverty levels, as well as fear of being reprimanded by healthcare workers leading to lack of access to antenatal care. According to a local CBO working on GBV issues, one of the girls said lack of sanitary towels was the major reason girls engaged in sex. Rose (not her real name) intimated that her mother has no money to buy pads. Due to culture, Rose cannot approach her dad because it is taboo for a girl to discuss menses with her father. “Our alternative is to approach men who have cash. They give us money for pads and we pay back in kind – offer sexual favours”.