This beautiful girl is called Siifa. She’s been an orphan since she was 7 months old and she is one of the sweetest girls in Africa, I think. When I get to work she runs out of the nursery school and says “Auntie Natasha, are you happy?” and it makes my day. Siifa is cared for by a HIV+ aunt called Regina who has 7 other orphans in her care as well- none of her own children, but all those of her brothers and sisters who have died of AIDS in the last 10 years. Regina has made it her goal to live long enough to see all her kids get through school. I’ve been talking to her lately about opening up an avocado stand in the market to generate more income for their large family. We’ve given her a startup fund of 50,000 shillings ($30) and she’ll use this to rent space for the market stall- great for her because it means a consistent source of money for school fees and basic necessities, and she’ll be able to feed the leftover avocadoes to her kids. Great for me because I’ll have a friend to buy avocado from in the market (my weekly “taco night” gets postponed all the time because I can’t always find ripe avocado to use.) and I love seeing Siifa.

This beautiful girl is called Siifa. She’s been an orphan since she was 7 months old and she is one of the sweetest girls in Africa, I think. When I get to work she runs out of the nursery school and says “Auntie Natasha, are you happy?” and it makes my day.

Siifa is cared for by a HIV+ aunt called Regina who has 7 other orphans in her care as well- none of her own children, but all those of her brothers and sisters who have died of AIDS in the last 10 years. Regina has made it her goal to live long enough to see all her kids get through school. I’ve been talking to her lately about opening up an avocado stand in the market to generate more income for their large family. We’ve given her a startup fund of 50,000 shillings ($30) and she’ll use this to rent space for the market stall- great for her because it means a consistent source of money for school fees and basic necessities, and she’ll be able to feed the leftover avocadoes to her kids. Great for me because I’ll have a friend to buy avocado from in the market (my weekly “taco night” gets postponed all the time because I can’t always find ripe avocado to use.) and I love seeing Siifa.