Bob Maurice Oduor Odhiambo, AJAN Staff

Test, Protect and Prevent. This was the theme of an event held for World AIDS Day on 1 December by the Uzima Program of St Joseph Parish in Kangemi together with AJAN and other local organizations.

The day-long event reached an estimated 10,000 people, with a range of diverse activities aimed at spreading messages of HIV prevention and against HIV-related stigma and gender-based violence (GBV).

St Joseph’s is a Jesuit parish in Kangemi, the suburb of Nairobi where AJAN is based. The parish has a long-running development program that includes Uzima, a program for people living with HIV that recently widened its mandate to embrace also people affected by GBV (not infrequently one and the same as those affected by HIV).

Uzima organizes a WAD event every year and AJAN joins in. Other participating organizations this year included the Girl Child Network (GCN), the Westlands GBV Working Group, and the Kangemi Health Centre. 

The day’s events included a football tournament for hundreds of youth, a caravan that did the rounds of Kangemi, drama skits, sports, dance and talent shows. Winners of the tournament were awarded with trophies, footballs and jerseys and congratulated by the local authority, represented by the Chief.   

Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services and other minor medical health care services were offered free of charge that day.