Antony Gitonga
In a dark room in Naivasha, an emaciated body lies in a wooden bed, writhing in pain. Now and then, the body turns with difficulty. It is a visibly painful experience for the lone woman.
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Whenever need arises, Sister Florence will abandon everything to give a word of encouragement to those in need. Here she talks to a girl who has been sexually abused.
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Outside the timber-made house, whose walls and roof have obviously seen better days, knee-high weeds grow taller by the day with the occupant too ill to even notice their presence.
And just as the groans momentarily fade, a wasted mongrel sniffs around before raising its rear leg, sending a sharp jet of urine to the rotting timber.
The scenario is disturbed by as a spotless clean metallic grey car, which drives in and parks outside the falling house. The sole occupant comes out. A Catholic nun.
With a grey skirt suit, a marching head-scarf and dark shoes, the nun heads to the dilapidated house where she proceeds to clean and feed the ailing woman.
After what seems like eternity, Sister Florence Muia, unperturbed by the sight behind, heads back to her car to visit the next patient.
This time, she visits two orphans who are living with their aging granny and her entrance is greeted with shouts of joy.
Here she leaves behind special-nutritious flour for the use by one of the minors who are HIV positive.
On her way ‘home’, she passes through an Internally Displaced People’s camp where she drops some clothes and personal effects for the victims of the post-election violence.
Sister Florence, as popularly known, is a figure of hope to people infected with HIV and the sign of peace to hundreds of IDPs languishing in poverty.
A holder of a Masters degree in Pastoral Counselling, Sister Florence left a well paying government job to cater for the ailing and less fortunate members of the public.
She has literally borne their sufferings in effect making herself a ‘perpetual beggar’ for the sake of the over 3,000 HIV positive for whom hope for another day, depends entirely on her efforts.
"Many of my friends tried to discourage me wondering how anyone could quit a well-paying job for philanthropy. But in my mind, I knew I could make it," she offers.
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Out of sheer hard work, Muia managed to put up a multimillion state-of-the-art centre at Karai, Naivasha.
"Upendo Village is a project designed to respond to the needs of women and children living with HIV and Aids at the local level," she says.
The project affords them immediate resources and support to improve their health, increase their lifespan and plan the future.
The calling to deal with victims of Aids hit her while she was doing her Masters at the Loyola University in the USA back in 1999.
"HIV and Aids was then declared a national disaster here in Kenya and figures came up and this touched me. I then decided to dedicate my life to assisting those infected and affected."
A noble idea
A senior probation officer then, she resigned while in the US and started looking for funds and her congregation, the Assumption Sisters, backed her noble idea. She started with a temporary two-room facility in 2002 until the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru donated a three-acre piece of land, where she later built the complex.
Starting with one employee, she now has over 20 workers ranging from nurses to nutritionists, drivers and volunteers all in the name of assisting the poor.
The Village, with a reception, laboratory, examination room, several offices and staff quarters is a sign of determination and faith on her part. And Upendo Village, she says, is not a hospice where death is the final outcome!
The home runs five support groups in Mai Mahiu, Naivasha town and South Lake.
"We offer food supplements, therapy and ARVs to our patients every Thursday as we believe that another woman’s problem is our problem too," she says.
Since they cannot afford to feed the families on a daily basis, the victims are given special Alpine goats, whose milk they use for its nutritious value. They are allowed to sell the surplus.
The beneficiaries have also started income-generating projects like ornaments whose proceeds are shared among them. Other projects include bee keeping, chicken rearing and making baskets using polythene.
"We have also assisted orphans go to school as I believe that education is power and we cannot just target treatment."
For her, seeing HIV positive families feed themselves is a reason to smile and seek for more support to assist many others.
She blames the current Aids status and high levels of new infections on poverty, which has led to promiscuity and thus the spread of the disease.
Need donors
Upendo Village is not self-sustaining and relies on donations. DT Dobie and Panda Flowers have been very generous to the home. Every year, doctors and nurses from the Catholic Diocese of Joliet in the USA, fly in to offer free medical services.
"We do get surgeons, dentists and many other medical specialists and at the end of their stay, they donate medical equipment to the Naivasha District Hospital,"
During the post-election violence that rocked Naivasha, Sister Florence, through the Catholic Peace and Justice Commission was at the forefront to assist those affected.
"The sad thing is that one year down the line, the IDPs are suffering in camps as our politicians steal and make merry."
The humble soft-spoken nun, has risen from the barefooted girl born 52 years ago, in Kawauni Village in Kangundo. A fifth born in a family of nine, life was hard as her parents tried to make ends meet.
"After completing Standard Seven, my parents, who depended on farming could not make it and I had to personally go school hunting," she recalls.
In 1974, she was admitted at Manyatta Secondary School where she covered a distance of 20km to and fro.
Eager to learn and prosper in life, young Florence is full of gratitude to her mother who always met her halfway the road from school as she always reached home late at night.
After two years of suffering, endurance, hard work and prayers, she left school and joined the Assumptions Sisters.
"But knowing the importance of education, I promised myself to go back to school later in life." And she did 10 years later, in 1986.
"Despite my age, I was admitted at Mbooni Secondary School in Form Three."
She worked hard and completed form four with Second Division and was admitted at the Kenya Institute of Administration for a Diploma in Social Work in 1990. It was after this that she got a job as a probation officer in government.
"This was a proud moment for me as I became the first ever nun to hold the position."
From then on, she worked in Nakuru and Kitui mainly with minors up to 1994 before she joined the Catholic University of Eastern Africa for a BA in Sociology and Anthropology.
Well recognised
After graduation, she went back to her former job but only shortly as she soon left for her Masters at Loyola, USA between 1999 and 2001.
For her service to the less fortunate, Sister Florence has received various awards from various organisations and learning institutions. Among the awards are the Damen Award (Loyola University) 2007, the 1,000 Women for Nobel Peace Prize, 2005, and the Paul Harris Fellow Award (Rotary foundation), 2004.
The recognition gives her more impetus to serve the less fortunate, and there is no stopping where saving lives and souls is concerned.
"I believe that every single life is worth living," she ends.
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