Bread of life tackles HIV

Women at the Wii bakery in Kitui. Money from the bakery is used to care for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. [Noreen Lockhart]

The Wii bakery in Kitui makes money to care for children who have been orphaned by AIDS

The Wii bakery near Kitui, southern Kenya, is one of many small projects run by the CAFOD-funded Kitui Diocese HIV and AIDS Programme.

Income from the bakery provides much-needed income and support for a large number of local children orphaned by AIDS.

Sole guardians

The bakery, housed in a series of traditional mud huts, is run by women who have been affected by HIV and AIDS.

One of the women, Uniys, is a grandmother and has seen her two sons and their wives die from the illness – she is now the sole guardian of their children.

Each of the women is responsible for as many as 11 children – all orphaned as a result of AIDS.

Uniys is proud of how the bakery has grown – they have installed a new kiln, the number of orders for bread has risen and the number of people taking part in the cooperative has also grown.

The income from the bakery not only provides food and clothing for the children, it also means the children can afford to go to school.

The HIV programme in Kitui Diocese is a beacon of great hope – CAFOD partners from different parts of Africa have gone there to learn and to draw inspiration from it.

Elizabeth is the HIV and AIDS co-ordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Kitui, and says: "We do what we can. We can offer medicines, nutritional food, nursing care but, above all, we must never give up hope."

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