Suppressing Viral Loads and Empowering Caregivers
Gladys, who is HIV positive, is a beneficiary of the MWENDO OVC project. She is a mother of 5 children with one female child living with HIV. Gladys was diagnosed with HIV in 2012 when she was pregnant with her daughter. She was given drugs which she took but unfortunately due to inadequate care of her pregnancy with sufficient drugs , her child was born with HIV. Her child , who is now 8 years old, has been on drugs and constant care from Gladys. Despite being HIV positive, Gladys has another child younger than the CLHIV who was born without the virus as she was able to take better care of her pregnancy.
Before MWENDO , she used to do milenial jobs such as harvesting, buying and selling of bunches of bananas on orders from as far as Nairobi and farming of vegetables. She still does this job once in a while.She used harvest of vegetables and the income from the bananas to get by with life. As she was doing the banana business she had to leave her elder son incharge of administering drugs to the CLHIV . However, the son was unable to administer the drugs at the prescribed time leading to an increase in the viral load of the CLHIV which led to Gladys quoting her job in order to take care of her daughter for three months.
MWENDO approached her and offered to lend her some funds. Upon receiving the first of the MWENDO emergency fund of Kshs. 4000 she used part of it to start a business and the rest to feed her daughter. MWENDO also had another sitting with her and her friends and they were able to start a SILC group where they can contribute money and save as a group. Through MWENDO’s help her child now has a school uniform. Gladys has now received a total of Kshs.17000 from MWENDO.
Gladys: Makes and sells bricks to supplement her income.
She used the last installment to invest further in her business in order to continue providing food for her child. Gladys is now able to take good care of her daughter LHIV as she now works from home. Gladys is grateful for MWENDO as it has really made a great difference in h
