Faraja Trust
Nairobi, Kenya
Josephine Munywoki founded Faraja – which means ‘comfort’ in Swahili – in 2001. Teaming up with a group of pastors in Ongata Rongai, about a 40-minute drive from Nairobi, she trained some of their church members in home-based care. In the face of HIV and AIDS these pastors felt desperate and ill-equipped to help those affected in their community, but Josephine was able to prepare them to make a difference.
Josephine continues to train church teams in HIV and AIDS and home-based care across Kenya and the work of Faraja Trust is developing in Ongata Rongai.
Faraja now runs a small clinic close to Kware slums: a particularly impoverished area. Nurses, Cecilia and Alice, support local people who drop in for help and advice, visit the sick in their homes, run support groups and help orphaned children in the community.
Faraja’s desire has always been to see local churches take up the mantle of caring for those affected by HIV and AIDS. With expertise and encouragement from Faraja, some now host support groups originally set up by the Trust. Faraja is also developing micro-enterprise activities through these support groups to help people affected by HIV and AIDS to provide for their families.
The overall aim is to decentralise all the activities and involve and empower local churches as much as possible to take the work forward in their communities. iThemba and World Relief fund the running costs of the project.
> Kenya country profile
> More about home-based care
> More about poverty alleviation
