December 6, 2007
By Micah McCoy

NAIROBI, KENYA – Mlolongo town, located on the southern outskirts of Nairobi, is rocky ground for hope to grow in. The problems of this commercial gatekeeper to the city are deep rooted, but a Church World Service sponsored empowerment program is planting seeds of hope for women who otherwise might expose themselves to HIV and AIDS by trading sex for money.

All truck freight from Mombassa on highway A104 and most of the freight entering from Tanzania must pass through Mlolongo, making it the logical spot to construct a weigh-bridge for trucks entering Nairobi-and a fertile breeding ground for prostitution, disease and despair.

Prostitution linked to commercial transport hubs is not a new phenomenon; the two have been bedfellows for as long as prostitution and trade have been around.

What is relatively new is the HIV/AIDS virus.

The risky sexual behavior of long distance in East Africa – who can be away from home on the road for months at a time, leading many of them to seek out the company of commercial sex workers – combined with their high mobility creates the ideal environment for the spread of the disease. Studies and testing show that truck drivers in East Africa have a HIV prevalence rate of 25% or higher, more than four times that of the general population. As the virus has torn through the community of Mlolongo, many people have succumbed to the despair and fatalism that surround the HIV/AIDS crisis, but not one group of women who call themselves the ‘Eagles Initiative.'

The Eagles Initiative is a women's savings and credit organization with forty members, half of whom are single mothers, sponsored by CWS partner Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC). It is one of the many Improved Livelihoods programs that CWS funds in an effort to economically and socially empower women in East Africa.

The group provides small business training and loans ranging from 5,000-10,000 Kenyan Shillings ($75-$150 USD) to develop businesses and raise their standard of living.

As in so many other CWSEA Improved Livelihoods programs, women of the Eagles Initiative choose to actively extend to their communities the empowerment they themselves have received.

The Eagles, some of whom are themselves former sex-workers, have begun trying to lure young women away from prostitution at the truck stops by providing them with the incentive of training and the resources needed to create their own businesses.

"We incorporated a HIV ministry because we want these young women to live a quality lifestyle," said one member, "The problems that come with HIV are very high."

One of the problems caused by HIV that the Eagles must face is the ever increasing numbers of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Mlolongo. In Kenya alone, there now are more than two million children orphaned by the AIDS virus. The group is looking towards addressing this problem by supporting OVCs and avoiding future cases by expanding their HIV/AIDS education.

Hope grows hard here, but little by little it is taking root because the women of the Eagles Initiative are determined to be agents of change in their own lives and communities.

As the group leader says, "We as women wanted our own group so we could contribute to the community and improve our lives. We cannot accomplish this unless we ourselves are first empowered."

Church World Service
Micah McCoy is communications volunteer for Church World Service in East Africa.