Soldiers for WOFAK
Nov 18th, 2007 by Pat Daoust
On our last full day in Kenya we visited a grassroots AIDS service organization in downtown Nairobi named WOFAK, Women Fight AIDS in Kenya. Founded in 1993 by a group of women living with HIV, WOFAK presently provides care and support services to over 6,000 women and their families. As I walked into the simple, yet welcoming building that houses this amazing CBO, I saw a picture of Stephen Lewis. WOFAK”s executive director, Dorothy Onyango, proudly told me that WOFAK was the very first of the over 100 grassroots organizations in Africa presently supported by the Stephen Lewis Foundation—which to my mind is a sure sign of quality. Our partner organization here in Kenya, HERAF, is working closely with WOFAK on a national campaign, “Stop AIDS Now.” Dorothy explained how this project focuses on gender and HIV. She and her staff spoke of initiatives to change long held beliefs about women’s role in society and how they are challenging gender based attitudes and behavior. Empowerment support groups, community education that includes men, and advocating with policy makers to address the human rights violations against women, such as gender based violence and inheritance laws, are some of their frontline interventions. “It is an up-hill battle daily,” explained Helen, the co-coordinator of the campaign, “but we will continue.”
These courageous women seemed to be doing it all—providing a safe and caring place for women and their children while also recognizing the need to address the driving forces behind the feminization of the AIDS pandemic. When asked how they keep motivated to continue they responded by smiling and saying, “with the support of people like you.” With that they gave each of us a WOFAK t-shirt and asked us to put them on. “Now you are all soldiers for WOFAK,” said Dorothy.
PHR delegation with Dorthy Onyango, Helen Otieno and Charles Kaduwa from WOFAK.