Why miracle healing thrives in county with high HIV prevalence

Sick man prostrates on the floor of the church during a service. [PHOTOS: KIUNDU WAWERU/COURTESY OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND INTERNEWS PHOTO CAMP]

By Kiundu Waweru

Kenya: It has been 30 years since Kenya identified its first case of HIV and Aids.

When it was first reported in 1984, the “strange disease” scared many, and the Government moved into denial mode.

It would not be until 1999, after many deaths, stigma and discrimination that the Government took note. And today, a year to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids) imposed Getting to Zero, some counties are still recording high number of HIV infections, stigma, discrimination and deaths. In 2011, the UNAids developed a strategy towards achieving zero new HIV infections, zero Aids-related deaths and zero discrimination.

A visit to Kisii County reveals the alternative ways some residents have resorted to in an attempt to get healed.

According to the UNAids 2012 report, Kisii County has a HIV prevalence of 8.9 per cent. This is higher than the national 5.6 per cent.

But in Kisii and Nyamira counties, stigma and discrimination are still rife, giving rise to a people reluctant to test for HIV, seek treatment and practice safe sex.

Kisii County Aids and STI Coordinator Florence Ogero blames this on culture and belief in witchcraft.

“Some of our people believe the disease is caused by jealous and envious family members and neighbours,” she says. “Women cover up their children’s faces while out and about for fear of the evil eye (ebiriria).”

Ogero says the county records new HIV infections every year. In 2011, there were 4,470 new infections, which increased to 4,530 in 2012.

Most cases are detected at the county’s major health facility, the Kisii Level 5 Hospital, when pregnant mothers show up for ante-natal care.

Mystical powers

Newly detected mothers are also urged to bring along their spouses. But majority shun the hospitals and instead seek help from herbalists, miracle healers, witches and pastors.

Evans Ongwae of the Nyamira Post HIV Test Self Help Group says due to stigmatisation, most residents opt to undergo HIV tests and treatment in far off areas where they are not known.

 “It reminds me of the time I tested positive in the 1990s. Nothing much has changed,” he says.

The new craze for HIV/ Aids patients, and those suffering from other diseases, is the  Immanuel Church in Nsicha village, Nyamira County. 

The Immanuel Church boasts of near mystical powers. On Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, people congregate from far and wide in their hundreds and thousands. On Saturdays, its busiest days, the congregation nears 4,000.The faithful come seeking Pastor Kennedy Chongamu, who claims to be a miracle healer.

Spiritual children

On an ordinary day, Chongamu’s homestead teems with people, most of who claim to have been healed of cancer and HIV and AIDS and other ailments.

Others say they  had been bewitched and the pastor exorcised the ‘demons.’

His wife Rose Murangi and other church leaders also claim to have the healing powers. However, few people mostly close neighbours who know Chongamu well, do not trust him.  They say his church is another Loliondo, Tanzania.

Loliondo became popular in 2011 when Ambilikile Mwasapile, better known as Babu, claimed to heal people of HIV. Many stopped using Anti Retroviral Therapy. Many died.

But Pastor Chongamu is quick to say that he worships the true God.

“This is not another Loliondo. Though we have healed people of many illnesses we do not ask them to stop their medication,” he says.

In the meantime, his homestead teems up with followers. A father of seven, he lives with over 30 “spiritual children”. He educates several children mostly orphans.