In one of the first few days we were here, we went on what was called the 'drop-off'. Basically, this consisted of them taking us to an unknown location that we only knew the name of and then leaving us there for the morning to talk to people and figure it out for ourselves.
I got dropped off at this place called Nyumbani, which is the Kiswahili word for 'home'. That's exactly what it was. The place ended up being an orphanage for abandoned HIV+ children ages 1-23. They had about 9 different locations and hosted about 112 children. We got a tour around the place, and it was pretty remarkable because it wasn't just some place for them to live, it became a home. Each group of kids lived in a house with a mother. They all went to school on a regular basis and lived life as usual, but they were able to live in a place that stabilized their medications and conditions. I thought it was pretty remarkable because I sometimes get the impression that nothing is moving forwards in terms of HIV/AIDS awareness, but to see these kids in healthy, stable conditions was really moving.
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