As I listened to one of the team responding to a vote of thanks, I realised there were two words the UK team kept using: 'inspiration' and 'privilege'.

When I first visited Oyugis in 2009, it took me a few days to look beyond material possessions, possibly due to the somewhat materialistic life many of us lead in the UK. On this occasion (October 2010) we were visiting the Chok Chir group. Chok Chir meaning ‘gathering courage’.

The Chok Chir group is actually a gathering together once a month of two groups: Ber Bang Tich and Lingni Kimiyi , whose members are all HIV positive. These groups have grown out of the inspiration of one man, John Rapemo, who five years ago was at the lowest possible point: HIV positive, unemployed and deserted by his family. But this was when he started to receive help through the Umoja Project. As John started to recover, so he helped found Ber Bang Tich, the first exclusively HIV positive group, to be followed subsequently by Lingni Kimiyi and Chok Chir. John was not present during my 2010 visit because, as a full time field officer now with the Umoja Project, he was away at a college in Kisumu on a counselling course as the representative of all the projects under the Amani UK umbrella.

I was watching a film on the flight back to the UK where one of the lines spoken was “Life can knock us down, but only you can choose whether or not to get back up”. John and the members of these groups may have been pulled down, but they have certainly chosen to get up again – with drive and energy.

As always, I found everyone we visited to be truly inspirational and it was a privilege to spend time in their company. As a teacher, I talk to my pupils about inspirational people but, as I reflect on my visit to Oyugis, I realise that the people I tell them about are perhaps more experts in their field but don’t portray the true definition of inspirational. In Oyugis, whether it is teachers, students, widows or orphans, I am inspired and for me it is a huge privilege that our paths have crossed.

Sue Smithin
Head Teacher
Tylers Green Middle School