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CAP/AIDS Partner - Kijiji Cha Upendo - Raising Awareness During Visit to Toronto
For many Canadians, the streets of Kibera, Kenya, Africa's second largest urban slum, would seem to be another world away, but thanks to one passionate couple and Toronto's Runnymede United Church, that gap is closing.
Visiting the city in the run up to the United Nations World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 are Leonora and Andrew Obara, the founders of Kijiji Cha Upendo (Swahili for ‘Village of Love'), a co-operative of Kenyan families who are trying to change the fates of the over 20,000 children in Kibera who have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Doing so with very little money, over the past nine years the Obaras have adopted 10 orphans from throughout Kenya, adding to their five biological children. They believe that the best hope for AIDS orphans is to place them in loving families, instead of overcrowded orphanages.
"I did have some concerns," said Andrew, 56, of his and Leonora's decision to adopt so many orphans. "Where was the food going to come from? There weren't enough amenities, where were they going to sleep? That kind of thing. But these children needed a home, and we had one, so we did what we could."
The Obaras' story starts about 10 years ago with Georgina. Leonora, 48, come across the sick and starving four-year-old through her work as a social worker.
"She had sores all over her legs and feet, and she could not walk very well," said the soft-spoken Leonora, who seems like she would pack all of Kenya's orphans into hers and Andrew's modest three-bedroom house if she could. "I took her, did the necessary medical tests, and I started to take care of her."
Touched by her plight, Leonora and Andrew took young Georgina to Nairobi for specialized treatment, and she began to improve. Her health taken care of, the Obaras took the necessary steps to adopt Georgina into their family. Today she is starting high school, and as Leonora describes, "is a beautiful, well-behaved and intelligent girl."
Two years after adopting Georgina, Leonora was invited to Toronto to speak at a social workers conference titled Breaking the Silence. It was there that she met Robyn Salter, a social worker and member of Runnymede United Church.
Salter was very impressed by the Obaras story, and interested in Leonora's desire to create programs that place Kenya's orphaned children in a family setting, instead of orphanages.
"This is an extremely progressive idea in the care of children in Kenya who don't have parents," said Salter, who is hosting the Obaras during their stay in Toronto. "Leonora understands of the needs of orphaned children through her work, and Andrew and Leonora's experience in caring for these orphans in their home has been brought together to create a truly amazing organization."
Salter speaks of Kijiji Cha Upendo, a community-based organization that was sparked by an idea conceived by Pastor Orville Brown and Andrew, and is now largely supported by the Runnymede United Church.
"The idea was to form a network families caring for orphans so that they could speak with one voice, solicit for funds, for help from the Kenyan government, and even pool their resources together to try and help each other solve problems," explains Andrew, who has taken on the role of project administrator for the co-operative of 15 families now caring for 75 orphans and vulnerable children.
Salter said the Runnymede United Church was interested in becoming part of the Obaras' vision from the very beginning, and are keen to see to see them reach their goal of expanding the co-operative to 100 families caring for 500 orphans.
"It was totally inspiring to tell [the church community], and to have people who have never met Leonora or Andrew just open their hearts and give generously," said Salter. "Runnymede United Church has been extremely forthcoming and trusting and giving."
The community has been so generous that a local branch of the charity, called Village of Love Canada, was set up to make it easier for Canadians to contribute to the cause.
Linda Levin, a minister at Runnymede United for 29 years, has taken on coordinating Village of Love Canada in her retirement, and believes the cause is a worthwhile one.
"You see things like this on TV and you feel as though you can't possibly do anything, you turn away because it's so much," she said. "But here is something right in our midst. You don't get many chances in life to do something really important, so when the chance falls in your lap...it's exciting to know that you have something to give that will make a hug difference."
Levin explains that the reason Kijiji Cha Upendo works is because it is a multi-faceted approach to helping families who may be willing, but financially unable to support the orphans they have adopted. The co-operative operates on three basic principles: to embrace the children of Kibera into a loving family setting; to provide the children with an education; and to empower those who have adopted orphans to be financially self-sustainable.
Leonora insists that the first principal has already been taken care of.
"Families in Kenya are willing to support the orphans," she said. "We did a lot of community sensitization on issues related to HIV and AIDS. People used to think that if you took in an orphan, then your children would get infected. So that part has now been dealt with."
The problem that exists now is a lack of capacity.
"It's funny how the people who want to give the most are the people who don't have anything," said Andrew of the families involved in Kijiji Cha Upendo. "There are so many orphans who need homes, and so many people who want to take them in, but they can't afford it."
In Kenya, the public school system is largely overcrowded, forcing parents to have to pay for their children to attend private classes. Widespread poverty also makes it difficult for Kijiji Cha Upendo to recruit volunteer social workers to train the parents on how to care for AIDS orphans physically, emotionally and psychologically.
The organization also pools resources to provide interest-free loans to enable families to expand their small businesses so that they can afford to care for the children. The loan is repaid over time and the money goes back into the pool to support new families. However, with the amount of interest Kenyans are showing in the co-operative, Andrew and Leonora are concerned they won't be able to fund all the start-ups.
It is for this reason that the couple has traveled to Toronto, on donated tickets. They hope that once more Canadians hear about the charity and how it works, that they too will want to support it.
"What we really want to do is change the kind of thinking that these children can't be anybody," said Andrew. "A lot of the children [in Kibera], they've given up hope, they believe they will remain in the slums forever. We want them to know that once given the opportunity, they can be as good as anybody else."
Leonora said she has already witnessed the impact of what the charity has done for one of their adopted children, Cynthia.
"She was at school one day and her teacher wanted to know the number of orphans in her class. Two children raised their hands, but Cynthia didn't raise her hand," she said. "The teacher knew she was an orphan, so she asked Cynthia why she wouldn't raise her hand. Cynthia said ‘I can't raise my hand. Leonora and Andrew are my parents. I'm not an orphan anymore."
The Obaras will be sharing their story on Sunday Dec. 4 at St. John's Anglican Church (288 Humberside Ave) from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
For more information, and to donate to Kijiji Cha Upendo, visit www.villageoflovecanada.org.
Village of Love Canada and Kijiji Cha Upendo are partners in the CAP/AIDS Network - www.capaids.org - The Canada Africa Partnership on AIDS works to connect grassroots organizations in Canada with grassroots activities in Canada in our common effort to support African communities in efforts to resist, survive and overcome the HIV&AIDS pandemic in Africa.
