Mennonite Weekly Review

CALGARY, Alta. — Joseph Kiranto’s backpack is filled with HIV testing kits when he travels by motorcycle or land cruiser to 11 villages within a few hours driving distance of Najile, Kenya.

Kiranto

Blood tests and counseling are the most effective means to limit the spread of the virus, said Kiranto, a community AIDS educator whose work in the Maasai communities near Najile is supported through Mennonite Central Committee’s Generation at Risk program.

Kiranto, a Maasai, is spending a year in Calgary under MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange Program. He is one of 58 young people from 24 countries participating in the one-year program that provides training through volunteer placements in Canada and the United States.

Kiranto arrived in Calgary in August and is filling the positions of pastoral assistant at Foothills Mennonite Church and staff assistant for MCC Alberta’s Generation at Risk program.

Both placements give him opportunity to speak in churches, schools and fundraising events about the importance of MCC supporting HIV/AIDS projects in Kenya and other countries.

Married people in Maasai villages are most at risk of exposure to HIV, said Kiranto. Gender issues, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs contribute to the spread of the virus.

About 80 percent of men in Maasai villages have more than one wife. Girls generally get married between the ages of 9 and 13 through marriages arranged by their parents.

Kiranto said his frank discussion about the spread of the virus includes the message that “AIDS is not witchcraft, it is not a curse from God — AIDS is a disease that can be prevented.”

During his stay in Canada, Kiranto has met only a few people living with HIV or having an AIDS diagnosis. But he said he has seen the statistics and realizes many people live with the virus in Alberta and other Canadian provinces.

“My first impression was that AIDS is not prevalent here, but I’m beginning to see how access to clean water, nutritious food and medical treatment make it possible for people living with HIV to be part of the community,” he said.