House Visit

This morning, the 7 of us volunteers headed to Kitengela for a house visit. Josh used to do these regularly and is starting them back up again. We go to various houses to check on families living with HIV or AIDS.

The woman we visited this morning, her name is Rose. She is 24 and has AIDS as well as Tuberculosis. She's had TB for two years and can't cure it because the AIDS makes her too weak. She was in considerably good shape today, sitting up and talking with us. The TB gives her a lot of trouble breathing, and Josh said she is often lying on her bed wheezing when he comes to visit. The medications for both the AIDS and TB take a big toll on her and she has to deal with a lot of side effects, like fluid build-up in her legs.

She is a very frail looking woman, I could see all the bones in her chest and arms. Her oversized shirt hung off her like it was on a hanger. Her husband Brian is HIV positive and works at a rose farm in Kitengela since he can't find work as a stonemason. She has a daughter, Beth, who was away at school during our visit. Beth is also HIV positive and has TB. Sasha, Rose's 13 year old niece, lives with them. Her mom died with AIDS, but fortunately, Sasha is not HIV positive.

The house is not unlike Lynda's, though I was told it's almost double in size. They live in a small compound with about 20 houses. Calling them houses seems a little ridiculous, as they are one room places no bigger than 10' x 20'. We walked into the small compound through a door and stepped on some rocks and dodged a milky looking puddle as we stepped onto the concrete walkway. It was an open hallway between the rows of doors on either side. We walked the straight and narrow path dodging puddles below and wet clothes on lines above. Rose's door was the second-last one on our left. The door was open and there was a sheet for some privacy hanging in the doorway. Inside the room, there was a couch, two twin beds, a small coffee table, and not much room for anything else. The one corner that wasn't taken up by furniture had water jugs and some miscellaneous items, as well and some intricate knitting of Rose's that she made from the yarn Josh brought her for Christmas. There was a sheet hanging from the ceiling to give privacy for one of the beds. On the walls there hung some signs and posters to cover up the corrugated metal walls and wood frame. There was thick string criss-crossing the ceiling to hold up cardboard, perhaps to lower the ceiling and make it a little more cozy and homey. I couldn't even imagine spending a night in that place, yet this family lives there day after day.