sponsors and Kenya

Hi,

Nice sunny day riding into to work with just a touch too much wind but who's complaining? My mother-in-law has made a generous sponsorship of 10p a mile (work it out!) and Graham has now paid his full amount of sponsorship up front. So the upfront total is £154 and the promised sponsorship is £200+. With your help I can reach over £1000 easily!

Meanwhile back in Kenya - there was a article in the last but one Observer Magazine (27th May 2007) called 'Sleeping with the enemy' a strange title. This was about the amazing sex working women in Nairobi who often have unprotected sex and there is small group of them who are not HIV positive.

Not surprisingly they are the subject of much research interest and in exchange for giving blood at regular intervals they get free medical treatment. What they don't get is any help to live a life without being a sex worker since "the research budget includes no funds to give them other options...The ethics of science today requires that the women get counselling and condoms, but ethical approval boards make no demands about maths classes or instructions in how to set up an alleyway beauty salon" or anything else that would help them move on.

So if a HIV vaccine is developed, partially as result of study sex workers in Nairobi and the West benefits how soon will sex workers in Kenya benefit? Does anyone really think that many of the clients if these sex workers will respond to an abstinence programme?

I don't have the answers or the arrogance too offer Western solutions to African problems but this cycling of mine raises money to support HIV counsellor training and development. KAPC in Kenya, the group I am raising funds for, unlike many agencies, offers HIV testing and counselling with the agenda set by the client.

Best to all,

Bill on bike