St Claire’s Orphanage in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu also shelters widows who do not wish to follow the traditional practice of being ‘inherited’ by their husbands’ brothers.
“When a man dies, his wife will be inherited by his brothers or close cousin – if she refuses, she is chased away. To them the disease that killed the man is immaterial, but what matters is that the wife is ‘cleansed’ [by remarrying] so that she can be allowed to mix freely with the rest of the community,” Sister Philomena Adhiambo, the home’s director, told PlusNews. “This has added to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Luo community.”
Caroline Atieno, widowed at 23, commented: “After the death of my husband, the family made sure I had nothing; nothing to eat, and my house was falling down. My daughter didn’t attend school. Here I can eat, I have shelter, I can wash my children’s clothes and my daughter will attend school.”
The orphanage, open for only a year, houses five widows and their eight children who share the home’s three small rooms with 40 orphaned children. Helena Ogada, 50, and widowed two years ago, came to St Claire’s with her two grandchildren, whose parents both died from AIDS-related illnesses after her in-laws refused to acknowledge her, but she wishes for a house where she could take care of her grandchildren.
The widows have become ‘housemothers’, helping to run the orphanage and attached nursery school that caters to an additional 30 fee-paying children, with a daily schedule that sees them feed, wash, dress and play with 70 children while keeping the home and school clean, but this is still preferable to being inherited.
Constalata Atieno, 32, has also been living and working at the orphanage since she refused to be inherited by her husband’s family a year ago. “They wanted me to continue with a husband, but I did not want to as already I knew that I was sick. When I refused to marry again they forced me to leave,” she said. “I stayed with my brother here in Kisumu, where I met Sister Philomena – she invited me here to help her.”
Three housemothers and five children are HIV-positive, but they all receive life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication from government hospitals nearby. Kisumu has a prevalence of 15 percent, more than double the national average of about six percent.
“I have been taking ARVs for one month and am already better, but there are some problems here and there – I feel sick sometimes and dizzy,” Constalata said. She earns no income at the home and often struggles to find money for medicines to treat opportunistic infections.
“We are full, but if I see that there is a need I can take more. They can even squeeze here,” Adhiambo said, pointing to a space on the floor of her room. “I have just heard of two children who are HIV-positive – their parents are dead, their grandmother is very old and blind. Their uncles will not care for them and chased them away. I must take them.”
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
