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The cruel paradise

2023 , KENYA

Contributions: AINA ONLUS

The cruel paradise is a long term project started between December 2022 and January 2023 in Kenya, mostly in the county of Meru and Igoji. It explores childhood struggles such as HIV and the shadows of a past marked by a pain lasting in the present.
I and Vicky Quondamatteo, the psychoanalysis leading Aina Onlus (Italian Association Nomad of Love), have just began understanding the interior worlds of the children home she created many years ago in Kenya: here the team helps children with HIV. Aina Onlus’s mission is to empower children affected by HIV to rise out of extreme poverty. It works with more than 800 children across the Meru county in Kenya.
Children can be infected from mothers during the pregnancy, by blood contacts and sexual relations.
During the visits to families in Meru County and Igoji County in Kenya, I saw that many families were very poor and lived in overcrowded, dirty conditions. Some of the children in these families were living with HIV. While some of them seemed to be aware of the importance of taking their medications and had aspirations for their future in work and study, others were unaware of their HIV status and did not take their medications as prescribed. This can have serious consequences for their health and overall well-being.
Change is a slow process and caring for people with HIV involves more than just providing them with medications to reduce the illness. People must also assume as their own initiative the social redemption, especially those on the margin, object of social injustices. This includes efforts towards cultural emancipation.
Children living of dreams and traumas have grown up experiencing the absence. They struggle to find a universal truth without being supported or helped. Absence has a double value: children live within the absence making it a full space.
Thus, they live in a relational space, avoiding the lonely search for speed. It is archaic because of its ability to keep track of the most obscure and private psyche. This time is fluid, and it gets being a non-time in the end, therefore opening a space of fullness.

Gitonga Thomas, who is 2 years old, has been residing in an orphanage since birth after being abandoned at the hospital doorstep. His parents' identities are unknown, and the community provided his name. Meru, Kenya, 2022.

Purity Kendy, aged 36, who has recently given birth, faces mental health challenges and is HIV-positive. She will undergo tests after 6 weeks, 6 months, and a year to determine if her baby has also contracted HIV. Meru, Kenya, 2023.

Steven, 74, resides with his wife and four grandchildren. His daughter tragically passed away recently due to Covid. Access to healthcare in Kenya faces challenges such as limited infrastructure, financial constraints, and geographical barriers, particularly affecting rural regions. Meru, Kenya, 2022.

When abandoned, children face vulnerability, often ending up in unsafe conditions like crowded orphanages or life on the streets, leaving them prone to various forms of abuse. Meru, Kenya, 2022.

Efantas is taking antiretrovirals. Every morning in the nursery, the housemothers administer antiretrovirals to the children. The children line up and wait for their medication even while they are still asleep. Meru, Kenya, 2022.

Maintaining good hygiene is particularly crucial for children living with HIV to prevent infections and support their overall health. Housemothers, who often live far from their families, play a crucial role in caring for the children every day, ensuring hygiene practices and providing essential support. Meru, Kenya, 2022.

At 5 a.m., Eveline patiently awaits her turn for a shower in the nursery, where numerous children start their mornings with personal hygiene. Self-care holds vital significance, particularly for HIV-positive children. Meru, Kenya, 2023.

Irine is a collaborative and cooperative child who shares a room with children of her own age. Meru, Kenya, 2022.

Teresia, 18, is on the verge of departing from the community to relocate to Nairobi. While sharing a community moment, she engages in play with Bernard, exemplifying the community tradition where older members routinely take care of the younger ones. Kenya, Meru, 2023.

In impoverished areas of Meru County, housing types vary based on available resources. Slums, for instance, consist of diverse makeshift structures like shacks, basic wooden or metal dwellings, reflecting the lack of resources and often haphazard construction. Meru, Kenya, 2023.

Rispa lives in a shack next to the community with her three sisters—Peace, Nelly, and Lina. The community often extends help to Rispa's family, providing assistance with essentials like food, clothing, toys, and medicine. As the eldest sister, Rispa assumes responsibility for her younger sisters, especially when their mother is absent for days at a time. Despite the prevalent high HIV rates in Kenya, they have not undergone testing, a common occurrence even when individuals are unknowingly affected. Meru, Kenya, 2023.

In this room, ten family members live with young Bakita, who is affected by HIV compounded by scabies. None of them are employed. While the community provides medications, a lack of awareness about the importance of treatment often hampers Bakita's recovery. Meru, Kenya, 2022.