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Jane Wangui: "I don't know where to get my drugs when the camp closes"

Internally displaced people queue up, for food aid at the Jamhuri grounds, Nairobi, Kenya. January 2008. According to the United Nations, 250,000 people have been displaced in Kenya and 600 killed by violence following the country’s disputed elections. Julius Mwelu/IRIN
Internally displaced people queue up for food aid at the Jamhuri grounds, Nairobi
    NAIROBI

    Jane Wangui an HIV-positive mother-of-four, is living in Nairobi's Jamhuri Park, where a camp has been set up for internally displaced persons who fled the violence that erupted across the country after controversial December 2007 elections. She explained to IRIN/PlusNews how the displacement has affected her life.

    "I was brought to Nairobi and taken to Kamukunji police station, where I stayed for a night until a Good Samaritan [from the Christian HIV/AIDS outreach programme] offered to take me to Jamhuri Park.

    "Before I was displaced I was on antiretroviral drugs and had been collecting them from a clinic in Malaba-Teso district [near the Kenya-Uganda border, where she was living]. When the skirmishes began I went without taking my drugs for two weeks.

    When I arrived at the camp I heard that people from the United Nations were in the camp. I talked to them and they helped me acquire drugs, but they did not have TB drugs, which I got two days later through another organisation called Lea Toto.

    "From what I have heard, Malaba is not safe for me to go back to. For 10 years, since my husband died, I never told my parents about my HIV status. Last August I went to visit my parents - I wanted to find out how they were going to respond to my status.

    My mother told to me to my face that she would not take care of anyone who was infected with HIV. I realised then if I told my family about my status it would stigmatise me. My parents do not have any land and are renting a small place to stay, so even if they accepted me I would only be a burden to them.

    "Now that the government is closing Jamhuri camp, I'm desperate. I don't know where to go from here without any money. There will come a time I will need medicine - as it is my immunity is low.

    "I wish the government would assist us by giving as little as 2,000 shillings [US$28] to start a life and business. This can help pay rent for the first month. I can survive on the rations promised by the Red Cross to last us a month and in the meantime I can start a small business of selling sweets to make ends meet.

    sm/kr/he

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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