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Korogocho Mission Caring for desperately poor people in a Nairobi slum is one of hundreds of ways in which Medical Mission Sisters around the world try to be a healing presence to those in need today. Sister Gill Horsfield recently completed 20 years of mission in Korogocho, a very poor and violent slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. It is "the place where you can live if there is nowhere else," says Sister Gill. 160,000 people live in this area. An estimated 50% to 75% of the adult residents are HIV-positive. Sister first began a community-based health care program, working with Christian communities. Over time, this developed into a home-based AIDS care program, with 5 nurses, a counselor, and 80 volunteer health care workers who help the sick and the dying. "The project seems to have a momentum of its own," says Sister Gill. "It is growing constantly: more patients, more clinics, and more children of the patients needing to be prepared for life without parents, and more activities for them. In the children's program there is an emphasis now on self-reliance." There is also a rehabilitation program for children with disabilities. For the people with AIDS, "There is more hope now that the program provides anti-retroviral drugs and natural treatment using nutritional supplements," Sister Gill explains. The hospice, which can receive 8 patients at a time, is always busy. Sister Gill recently turned over her involvement with the people of Korogocho to the Comboni Missionary Sisters. Reflecting on what has changed during her 20 years in mission there, she shares, "It is the people who have changed. They have found strength and developed their abilities. If the program now has a momentum of its own, it is because the people…are taking responsibility for it, proposing changes and developments, sharing ideas." "The people of the slums have great faith in God and a tremendous strength and courage, which enables them to survive," she adds. "The programs of Korogocho have given them the scope to use and develop their strengths and see themselves as children of God who have a place in the world."
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