New Dawn

This was another new dawn for the members of the Muslim community when IYAP members decided to camp at the county council and forest junction. The point was to target the members from the Muslim community. At first as we were setting the tents it attracted most of the people around who confused the place with the ongoing population counting (census).
The mobilizers then took most of their time to welcome all to this crucial exercise while giving information on HIV basic facts. The client flow was good bearing in mind this was the first service of its kind at the area.
The prevalence rate of Muslim dominated areas has been known to be low, which may be caused by low VCT up take.
We enjoyed the day which we took as a learning process and an avenue to collect views and the community perception about this service. We therefore took an advantage to stratagise ourselves on the basis of collected information which will assist to go back in full swing.

CHALLENGES
-most of the community are fasting hence thought pricking (to draw blood for testing) will break their fast.
-most women were at home preparing for the family evening meals.

Mobile VCT at Millenium petrol station.

IYAP members met very early in the morning and performed their morning rounds; this is where all the members share their feelings on their night experience,concerns,fears and expectation for the day.
A counselor and a receptionist were then selected to remain behind for the standalone site to be functional while others will be leaving for mobile outreach.
PT (Panel Test) was then done by one counselor where the sample report was then sent to Nairobi by site in charge for the purpose of Quality Assurance.
We then proceeded to the identified site where the client flow was low despite the effort made by mobilization team in mobilizing the people around the surrounding area. Anyway we managed to test and counsel at most 24 clients despite our set target of 100 clients.
We all then went back to the office to conduct the closing rounds for the day and get an overview and members' experiences.

CHALLENGES
-performing counseling,testing and mobilization while fasting.
-Strong wind and dust.
-Poor means of transportation.

IYAP Kenya's New Website

Photo: Last week's mobile VCT clinics took place despite constant wind and dust.

Just a quick announcement: IYAP Kenya's new website is now online. Check it out for contact details, information about the work we do and background information on HIV/Aids in Isiolo.

The Past Week in Isiolo

On Monday the activities of the day started late which led to the pitching of only two tents due to other workload in the office. But the day went on smoothly and we managed to do both testing and counseling for 62 clients.

Tuesday and Wednesday

We recently again took the VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing) services nearer to the community with a target of meeting testing and giving information to the most vulnerable  groups of young men and women.

The whole exercise was expected to take one day for every village but due to a massive turn up at a densely populated area from the people from within "Shauri yako", which is derived from a Swahili word meaning ‘its up to you’, we were required to go back to the same place the following day.

We tested 140 clients and the HIV prevalence rate was very high compared to the most of the villages in the district. It was for this reason that some of IYAP counselors decided to take a walk in the interior parts of the village and came out with the following findings:

Around 75% of households are brewing "chan’gaa" (an illicit brew)

There is a high incidence of poverty and sex exchange for money

There are also other influencing factors such as a high number divorcees who just reside at home.

Challenges

Some of the clients comes while they are drunk and hence make communication difficult during counselling. At some times, others  just go straight into the testing room while other client are being attended and thereby interrupt the session.

Welcome to IYAP's Blog!

Photo: Mobile voluntary and testing (VCT) centre in Isiolo town.

IYAP has 12 active members who run the programme of the organization voluntarily. We are working to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids and to alleviate poverty among the youth of Isiolo and society as a whole. We are working to develop a sustainable community free from HIV/Aids and poverty.

IYAP strives to be an outstanding organization in addressing the problems relating to HIV/Aids through prevention as well as care and support for people living with HIV/Aids. The organization engages in lobbying and advocacy, networking and resource mobilization so as to address the problems that contribute to high poverty incidence, while targeting the orphaned and vulnerable children, youth and women's groups. The organization has 5 trained counselors and is headed by site coordinator. The primary targets for IYAP’s interventions are youths (in and out of school), women, orphans, vulnerable groups and the community at large.

This blog will be about our day to day work and our plans for the future, along with news and photos of some of our activities.