Out of Africa
By Catherina Hurlburt
July/August 2001 Family Voice

When 10 U.S. Congressmen, led by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois), visited a Kenyan orphanage this year, its founder reminded them, “As you sit here, you don’t smell the stench of Auschwitz, nor can you hear the agonizing cries of those being slaughtered in Rwanda, but … there is a silent holocaust going on.”

So spoke Angelo D’Agostino, S.J., M.D., the founder and medical director of Nyumbani orphanage, which houses and cares for 75 AIDS orphans.

HIV/AIDS has produced more than 12 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, and 25.3 million Africans have AIDS, according to Christian Aid, a British relief ministry. According to UNAIDS, 78,000 Kenyan children contracted the disease in 1999 alone.

“The African HIV/AIDS situation is unspeakably desperate,” said Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) Vice President for Government Relations Michael Schwartz, stressing the need to promote abstinence. Instead, the United Nations distributes condoms—and, this year, the U.N. Population Fund called for $1 billion in more funding. Attempting to justify this, U.N. representatives say the number of sexually active youth is on the rise. But youth need to know condoms are faulty, and abstinence is the only surefire prevention against AIDS.

In the meantime, children are dying.

In February, CWA representatives visited Nyumbani. “The children live in dorm-style homes,” said Director of Communications Wendy Wright. “A school, a treatment and research lab, a garden, playground and graveyard describe life at Nyumbani.” Recently, Dr. D’Agostino discussed the orphanage’s vision with Family Voice.

“Nyumbani is the first and largest facility of its kind in Kenya. … Nyumbani (meaning ‘home’) provides out- and in-patient medical services. … We have a state-of-the-art laboratory.”

Obtaining funding and medical supplies is challenging.

“The World Bank turned us down, but gave $60 million for elephant preservation. In 1994, the U.S. Agency for International Development said [Nyumbani] was a waste of time because ‘the children would die anyway.’ But things changed when Sen. Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina), then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, helped allocate $250,000 in U.S. funds for a community-based project. A member of his staff sits on Nyumbani’s Board.”

On March 29, at a reception CWA held in the senator’s honor, we presented Mrs. Helms with a book crafted by the orphans, with pictures and personal notes to thank her husband.

“We are often cited in the media because of what we are doing for the children—and for no other motive than for the love of God and His children. The local people … verbalize their gratitude to God for us. We also educate young people to live good Christian lives to avoid the disease.

“My worry is for the literally millions of orphans who will be roaming Africa within the next decade. Now is the time to prepare for that cataclysm.

“May God shower you with abundant blessings.”

Angelo D’Agostino, S.J., M.D.

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