Ambrose Rachier, HIV/AIDS Tribunal Chairman
NAIROBI, KENYA -- Bishop James Okombo, 51, stands more than 6 feet tall with a white collar around his neck. At first, he looks like an ordinary pastor.
But unlike other bishops, Okombo uses the pulpit to preach the message of hope, tolerance, and access to medication and condoms for people living with HIV in Kenya.
“The traditional ’Abstain [and] be faithful’ way can’t prevent HIV in Kenya,” he says. “We are human beings and we have feelings. I tell my congregation that if they want to have sex they must use condoms. But they should know that it’s not a guarantee that the condom will protect them from acquiring HIV/AIDS. It’s better than telling them to abstain,” Okombo says.
Okombo has been living with HIV for almost 10 years. “It’s not an easy journey,” he says. “But churches can eliminate stigma if they acquire accurate information and educate and eradicate ignorance in their congregations.” Okombo says the churches should “encourage their members to get tested by providing [free testing] centers in their places of worship.”
Okombo founded Free Christian Assemblies Church in 2001 after he was removed from of his former church when the archbishop found out that he was HIV positive. His church is dedicated to reducing stigma and discrimination for Kenya’s HIV positive population.
For more than 25 years, people in Kenya have been living with HIV, yet social stigma and discrimination remain common. More than a million Kenyans are HIV positive, 65 percent of this positive population is women. While many here fight the social stigma with religious and social messages, others say they hope the long-awaited HIV tribunal will begin hearing cases of discrimination and injustice very soon.
A Pastor Tests Positive
Okombo learned he was positive after his wife was admitted to the hospital for an illness. He was visiting his wife when a doctor approached him and told him that his wife had tested HIV positive. Okombo says he laughed at the news in disbelief.
He says the doctors had previously informed him that his wife had pneumonia and so he was not prepared for the new diagnosis. “I walked slowly towards my wife. I looked at her as tears were dropping out of my eyes,” he recalls.
Okombo insisted he be tested immediately. His results came back positive too. Doctors say they were shocked to see him looking healthy, as the test revealed that his CD4 count, a measure of the cells that determine immunity, was 182, a dangerously low number.
Okombo describes the next few days as “a series of humiliating incidents.” When the archbishop of his church learned the news, he was publicly called an “adulterer” and a “lair.” Rumors spread that he infected his wife with HIV and failed to confess. He was defrocked by the archbishop, a man he refuses to name.
“I was thrown out of the house that the church had given me. My children were thrown from the church Sunday school,” he says.
Okombo says he became more determined than ever to educate himself and to beat the disease and the discrimination. He began attending courses provided by World Vision, a public-private partnership that offers educational opportunities. He acquired information on living with HIV and shared the information with his wife. Together they took more training courses about how to live with HIV. Eventually, the couple even decided to have a baby. Their daughter is now 2 years old and HIV negative.
“We should not be intimidated to talk about HIV in churches. I have been able to stay for long because I have changed the way I live,” Okombo says.
The Defrocked Pastor Founds a New Church
Defrocked and isolated, Okombo says he was filled with hope because he had educated himself on the disease.
“My wife met with some women as she was going to pick her ARVs [antiretroviral medication] at Mbagathi District Hospital. These women told her we [should] form our own church for people living with HIV,” he says.
“’Your husband is a Bishop. He could be preaching for us,’ they told her. My wife told me the idea but I overlooked it. Afterward the women kept on coming to my house asking me to pray for them. After a series of meeting with people who were interested, the church was formed.” Okombo added
Since 2001, Okombo has rejected the traditional “ABC” health messages – Abstain, Be faithful, and use Condoms. Instead, he has implemented his own SAVE message – Safer practices, Availability of medicine, Voluntary counseling and testing and Empowerment. His church has grown to 17 branches over the years, and Okombo is recognized as a leading AIDS advocate. He was recently named to the newly created HIV/AIDS Tribunal.
Discrimination Tribunal Authorized, Delayed
Millions of Kenyans have faced discrimination from family and employers, as Okombo did.
According to a report released in May 2010 by Human Rights Count, an organization that monitors rights violations for people living with HIV, nearly 83 percent of Kenyans living with HIV face a range of abuses from loss of life and denial of health care to human rights violations and discrimination.
In 2009, the Ministry of Special Programs authorized the formation of the Kenya HIV/AIDS Tribunal as a part of the 2006 HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention Act.
But Ambrose Rachier, tribunal chairman, says more than six months Rachier and the other tribunal members, who include Okombo, were selected, the tribunal has not been operationalized.
The tribunal, the first of its kind, was formed in order to enforce the HIV/AIDS Act of 2006, which has remained largely unimplemented. The tribunal will be recognized as an official court that deals only with cases related to HIV/AIDS. Rachier says the tribunal will have the power to order payment of damages related to direct financial loss or emotional suffering as a result of discrimination.
Rachier says many have already filed cases that are piling up in his office, waiting to be heard. He says he worries that many others are losing interest in the tribunal because of the delay.
“I have written a letter to the Attorney General and the Special Program Minister, Naomi Shaban, requesting for the launch of the tribunal so that we can jump start our work. The tribunal needs personnel, equipment and premises, but the minister has not responded to any of my letters and this is very frustrating,” Rachier says.
Rachier says that the tribunal faces many opponents in Kenya, namely employers who are thought to be responsible for delaying the process.
Rachier says employers are the main perpetrators of discrimination against HIV positive people here and many of the pending cases deal with violations of human rights by local employers.
“With or without the government blessing, the tribunal will start very soon,” Rachier says.
Other members of the tribunal include lawyers Joy Asiema, Mohammed Noor, medical scholars Julius Kyambi and Dr. Ephantus Chomba and activists Joe Muriuki and bishop James Okombo. Tribunal members are scheduled to serve for three years.
Tribunal members say they anticipate protests by rights groups very soon if they do not begin to hear cases. Many of the cases pending before the panel include discrimination by employers, in schools, colleges, foreign embassies and even at home.