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Los Gatan to volunteer in Kenya
By Sandy Sims
While most of us watch heart-wrenching television images of the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, Los Gatos native Mikaela Rejbrand will soon see the problem up close and personal.
In fact, 27-year-old Rejbrand isn't just seeing it--she is getting involved.
To augment her graduate thesis at San Francisco State University, Rejbrand will fly to Kenya in early June to work as a volunteer for 2 1/2 months with Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK). It is a small grass-roots program based in the city of Nairobi. She will help educate women about HIV/AIDS and also work with orphan children whose parents died of AIDS or related complications.
Rejbrand says that while the HIV/AIDS medical disaster in Africa has received global attention, there are attendant catastrophic social problems as well, particularly for women. HIV or AIDS-infected women in Kenya often experience rejection by their families, social stigmatization and discrimination.
Because many of their spouses have died of the disease, these women must support their families alone. This, says Rejbrand, is tough because the country is male-dominated, and most women have few employment skills. Even if they do have skills, the women have an average of five children--and unemployment rates are soaring.
In addition to those difficult circumstances, the Kenyan government is fearful that too much publicity about HIV/AIDS will hurt tourism. "They are not candid and open about the disease like we are here," Rejbrand says, "so education about the disease is a big challenge."
The genesis of WOFAK was a group of HIV-positive Nairobi women who united to support each other. Their outreach effort has since expanded to include education and awareness programs all across Kenya, with a recent emphasis on home-based care. They counsel and advocate.
The program has developed income generating activities (IGAs), such as selling charcoal and firewood, second-hand clothes and shoes, dried and smoked fish, and fruits and vegetables. These IGAs give the women some financial security and help them provide for their families.
Rejbrand will work on a new WOFAK program to provide psychosocial support for WOFAK clients' children who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. She is particularly looking forward to the two weeks she will spend at a children's center just outside of Nairobi, where some 200 orphans live.
She also will work with Child Rescue, a Christian-based organization whose main office is in Oklahoma. The center in Kenya is run by a German couple who have been there for 15 years.
Rejbrand, a 1990 Leigh High School graduate with a political science degree from San Jose State University, has always been interested in children and international relief. "I want to do grass-roots work," she says. Her master's degree from SFSU is in international relations with an emphasis on child development.
In fact, Rejbrand says she wouldn't be surprised if she brought a child home from Kenya. "I've always figured I would adopt an international child," she says.
The roots for Rejbrand's interest in orphans and international work come from her own background. She was adopted by native Swedes Rolf and Lilian Rejbrand who still live in Los Gatos.
Rejbrand's awareness of international service grew when she became a volunteer at Global Service Corps in San Francisco. She has subsequently become one of their employees. GSC provides opportunities for adult volunteers to live and work on projects in developing nations, particularly in Costa Rica, Thailand and Kenya.
With information from GSC and through research on the Internet, Rejbrand sent out many letters, about 30 of them to Nairobi alone, to find volunteer work this summer. When she received a reply from WOFAK, she thought it was ideal because it's small and grass-roots.
As part of her thesis, Rejbrand will examine how a grass-roots organization works with the government as well as with community members. She also will study how international agencies, such as UNICEF and CARE and NGOs such as WOFAK, have responded to the Kenyan HIV/AIDS crisis.
Rejbrand hopes to ferry children and adult clothing and shoes, and light medical supplies with her to Kenya. She welcomes any donations. This will be her first experience in a Third World country. "I'm scared and excited at the same time," she says.
Rejbrand may be called at 415.928.6296, or emailed at mrejbrand@yahoo.com.
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