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HIV Kids in Kenya: Travel Grants Spur Reporting

(July 18, 2008) As part of Internews' Local Voices project improving health journalism in Kenya and other countries, Internews Kenya recently awarded travel grants to four journalists to cover stories that highlight the plight of African children affected by HIV/AIDS. Announced on the Day of the African Child on June 16, the awards will result in stories on topics such as transactional sex with child laborers on Kenyan farms, and injecting drug use by minors in the coastal city of Mombasa.

In a country where many journalists do not even have their own phones or Internet access, let alone travel funds to pursue stories, the Internews travel grants will allow journalists to travel to Kenya’s regions to provide in-depth reporting on neglected stories on children and HIV.

Internews awarded grants in four media categories – TV, radio, print and online. The winners are:

  • For print - David Njagi, Daily Nation Horizon Magazine. David will travel to Nyambene Hills in the Meru District. Nyambene Hills is known for its crop of khat, an amphetamine-like stimulant. According to reports from the area, many khat farm owners use children as cheap labor in harvesting the crop, and some plantation owners engage in transactional sex with minors. Due to the large amounts of cash involved in the khat trade, sex work is rampant in the district. David will investigate these and other HIV-related stories in the region.
  • For online media - Naftali Mwaura Muigai, Africa Science News Services. Naftali is an online contributor to the Africa Science News Services. He is traveling to Kitui, in the eastern province of Kenya, where there are many reported cases of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) as a result of HIV/AIDS. Kitui is a dry area where food production is sometimes unreliable. Naftali will report on children who are HIV-positive and taking anti-retroviral medication to find out whether they are getting adequate food to complement their medication.
  • For television - Rose Wangui, Reporter, Nation TV. Rose will journey to Migori, in the Nyanza province of Kenya, to do a follow-up story about a young man named Eric Omondi whom she reported on five years ago. Eric was 18 years old when his parents died from AIDS-related ailments and he was forced to drop out of school to take care of his 15 siblings. Eric is now 23 years old and is still taking care of his brothers and sisters, some of whom are HIV-positive. Rose aims to find out how Eric has been able to cope with the situation and how he is ensuring that his young siblings who are HIV-positive get their medication as well as adequate nutrition.
  • For radio - Kioko wa Kivandi, Sauti ya Mwananchi FM, Nakuru. Kioko is a radio journalist who will head to the coastal city of Mombasa, where there is a drug injection epidemic among minors, as well as child prostitution. He will be working with Citizens Against Child and Drug Abuse, an NGO based in Mombasa that helps to rehabilitate minors who abuse drugs. He will report on the risks that injecting drug users expose themselves to and their vulnerability to HIV.

Internews Network’s Kenya office plans to award additional travel grants to journalists reporting on HIV/AIDS issues every month.

Internews Network’s health journalism programs in Africa are funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.