Friends Of Nyumbani

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Children from Nyumbani have been adopted, but these are those which are found to be HIV free. An infant from an HIV infected mother can carry the antibodies for several years. As a toddler, an accurate diagnosis can be made and those children who are HIV free are returned to their families or adopted. Donna Denelli-Hess, a volunteer at Nyumbani, has been working to adopt an HIV+ child. Jennifer Price writes in the Massachusetts Berskire Eagle, of the trials Denelli-Hess has faced in bringing an HIV+ child home into the US.

Denelli-Hess first traveled to Kenya in 2004 with her best friend and housemate, Deborah Foss, on a summer vacation.

During their six-week stay, the two visited Nyumbani, which opened in 1992 as the first hospice center for HIV-positive children in Kenya and now is home to more than 100 orphans. . . .

Nyumbani means home in Swahili, and it's an apt description. Children gather on the playground hoping a volunteer will push them on the swing. Each child has a cottage and a "mum" who prepares his or her meals, and there are more than enough "brothers and sisters" to play with. The older children help manage the vegetable garden in the back yard. . . .

Nyumbani assigned Denelli-Hess to volunteer in Komu's cottage, and as the weeks went on, the two gravitated toward one another. Denelli-Hess proved she wasn't too old to help with homework, run around or even hand-feed giraffes together at a nearby zoo.

"As I was volunteering, it hit me that I needed to have him in my life permanently," she said. "He needed me as much as I needed him."

There is also a link to a Quicktime video interview with Donna at the web site.

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