Kenya - Moses Ochiel - 1999 Graduate

Moses Ochiel

Kenya Society for People with AIDS (KESPA)

Graduate Impact Study site visit, April 2014

by Steven Cutting

“So I think that leading by doing is one thing that really we learned from ARI.”

https://gyazo.com/e934c4fb21cd55b3b60b0a759abca586

Moses

Moses is the program coordinator for KESPA – Kenya Society for People with AIDS. With a focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, the organization provides Volunteer Counseling and Testing (VCT) and receives 8 to 20 clients a day. People pay a small fee for these services but condoms are given out free. They also conduct an after school youth program to try to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS which, at its peak in the early 2000’s, affected 38% of the population in Siaya County, an area near the fishing and border traffic with Uganda. Current statistics report that 15.9% of the people are impacted by the virus while KESPA says a more accurate estimate is 17.9% - a very high rate when compared to the national average of 5.6%.

https://gyazo.com/41f2614a980427be38bd9e577234e9ba

Moses proudly wearing his ADA shirt while at the KESPA office

AIDS has also impacted the elderly in the community, as many have lost children that were to be their caretakers, and now find themselves caring for young grandchildren. Moses assists them with housing and other needs and advocates for their rights to be treated with equality and dignity, through the global movement Age Demands Action (ADA), organized under HelpAge International and its affiliates in 58 countries.

Moses has five children, three of whom his family took in when they became orphaned. His wife Millicent is a priest in the Anglican Church of Kenya, serving four congregations (Nyamninia Parish) in the Diocese of Maseno West. One of the many church projects he assists with is administration support for 300 Compassion International sponsored children (up to three kids from one family can be sponsored).

https://gyazo.com/f27df2b6a8621733a495974601ad7399

Yala Anglican Church Compound

He is also an avid farmer and uses the organic techniques learned at ARI to grow a huge variety of vegetables and fruits. About a year ago, they dug out four fish ponds where they raise tilapia and catfish. It is his dream to be able to build up the productivity of the farm to a point where it can become his full time profession and can provide the bulk of his family’s food needs. With an average Kenyan family spending 70% of its income on food, this would be a significant boost to the household budget.

https://gyazo.com/235c4570c19be325626f13d83ebf7a9f

Compassion International sponsored children

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