School Fees for AIDS Orphans

Furaha is 16 years old. She is the last born in her family and interestingly enough, only she and her mother are HIV positive.  They've both attended our facility in Mombasa since 2006 and there, they receive counseling and the medicine they need to take daily. 

Looking at Furaha, you'd think she is younger than she is because she is a small girl, mostly because of her HIV+ status and how it has affected her since birth.  Malnourishment as a baby also played a part in her small stature, but it sure didn't affect her mind!  Wow!  Furaha is something else!  Because she was so sickly as a child, she didn't start school until she was eight years old.  But, once on the medicine provided by AFCA, she took to school very quickly and is now in class 8.  She loves school and is looking forward to high school now.

Furaha is not only active in school and at home, but she is also active in the youth support group which she attends with her peers at the clinic. There, she is open to discuss her issues with being HIV+ because she knows no one will make fun of her and because she can get answers to her growing list of questions about life with HIV.  With her shy smile, natural curiosity and work ethic, I see Furaha going far. 

Naturally, without the school fees and uniforms you help pay for, she couldn't do it. Her mother is sick and her father passed away long ago.  So, really, YOU are the one that is allowing this bright girl to have a future.  Thank you for that.  If you were to visit Furaha today, she'd smile and thank you in her quiet voice.  But inside, she'd be jumping.

That's just the way she is.