Feature: Artifacts, life's choice for a few HIV-positive Kenyan women

Although Mary Atieno is positive with HIV, her efforts to raise an income and live a better life have not been deterred.

Atieno lives in Kaptembwa estate in Nakuru, about 168km northwest of Nairobi. She is the chairperson of Baraka Upendo Women's Group which comprises 20 members also infected with the disease.

But despite of her status, her daily schedule revolves around collecting papers, polythene bags and calendars from sites of dumping waste within the town to recycle into usable materials.

Later, Atieno uses the materials to make table mats, bags, necklaces, ear rings and bracelets for sale.

"Even with the disease (HIV), I am a strong woman, and I use my energy to make money rather than wait for help from someone else," says Atieno.

With the profits she makes, Atieno says she is able to afford her rent and balanced food while maintaining high hopes for a good life and strength.

She is not alone in eking out a living from the artifacts. Members of the group which she chairs are equally active and aggressive in the venture.

Formation of the Baraka Upendo Women's Group in 2006 was bound with giving each other moral support in the midst of a society that stigmatized them. But there was a great need for finances to support their families following the death of their husbands.

"And so we had a discussion on different ways of empowering ourselves financially. We finally settled on making the artifacts from the recyclable materials as it was cost efficient for us," she explains.

Mary Anyango, another member of the group, says being able to generate an income to sustain themselves and their families draws them satisfaction incomparable to pitying themselves.

"When we meet, we encourage each other, pray together and plan on how to reach out to other women who are in the same suffering," says Anyango.

For the table mats, necklaces, ear rings and bracelets, the members sell at a price ranging from 1.15 U.S. dollars to 6.9 dollars while bags go for the highest rate of 8 dollars a piece.

Although they face stiff competition from other women groups coupled with the social stigma, the group reaches out to their customers through churches, exhibition and sensitization drives on HIV/Aids around Nakuru County.

Even as the surrounding community exudes a biased behavior towards them, the women say they have resorted to remaining focused and hopeful while they strive to share their experiences with other infected women.

"We go out to the estates and churches to talk to women. It is encouraging to share in their suffering as members of the society still tend to exclude those living with HIV/Aids," says Atieno.

Their vision is to reach out to as many women and youth as possible to educate them on how to live positively and avoid infecting others in the community.

In the East African nation, statistics show that women are the greatest bearers of the impacts of the disease, with the society exposing them to discrimination in social, economic, cultural and political spheres.

Recent data on the status of HIV/Aids in Kenya by the National Aids Control Council indicate a larger percentage of women living with the disease against men. Out of the total number of the infected persons, 6.9 percent of women make up the population against the 4.2 percent of men.

Among the factors associated with the high levels of infections among the women include their low socioeconomic status, limited access to education thereby restraining their access to economic opportunities, and the low access to healthcare due to lack of finances.

Kenya is among the countries in the world with high HIV/Aids infections. However, it has been shown to be making recommendable progress in preventing and controlling its spread. Figures from the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey show a 1.6 percent drop in the disease's prevalence between 2007 and 2012. Endi