 Good afternoon once again, and happy Sabbath. Welcome to this section of worship. We're going to open with a song. But before we do that, I'd like to request those of us within to kindly rise for a word of prayer. May we all rise. Let us pray. Everlasting Father, we thank you for thus far that you've brought us. Thank you for the blessings that you've enjoyed. The Sabbath rests. Lord, we are back again to lift your name in song. And even as we do this and other activities, Lord, I pray that you may be with us. May your heavenly host be with us. We shall be done in this sanctuary before the glory and honor of your name. May you lead every part of this program, and may we be blessed and hear from you. For you give us our sins for this just in Jesus' name. Amen. Have you seen it? Two starts of the afternoon programs. We're going to have an opening song and we'll make use of our SDA hymnals. The song is 3-2-6. That says, open my eyes that I may see. The hymn 3-2-6. Good night. Good morning depending on wherever you are. But the ones in Nairobi of course it is afternoon. To this afternoon session that will have a health session on HIV and AIDS. So it's a special topic that the conference has brought forward and we discuss it once every year at the end of November. So this week we will discuss something on HIV and AIDS and I hope all of us will enjoy it. And all of us, we are all welcome to listen to whatever we are going to discuss today on the topic. So before we start, I would like to let us pray. Almighty and every living father, father of all creation, give of life may and then be glorified. We thank you very much for our lives Almighty Father. We cannot take our lives for granted. We ask you that as we continue living on this earth Almighty Father may you make us live according to our will Almighty Father. As we plan to discuss the HIV AIDS on this health subath for the HIV and AIDS Almighty Father we ask that you may bless everything that we are going to discuss today and may you make us understand whatever is going to be discussed and let us live according to our will Almighty Father. Let us love each other and let us take care of each other. So as we start the program today I ask that you may bless all of it for this I ask believing and trusting in your son Jesus Christ. Amen. So thank you very much for the afternoon. We will now have a program on the AIDS and I would not like to say much. I would just like to welcome our elder who is actually our conference health leader here. So I would welcome elder Okelo to come and give us a talk for at least 20 to 30 minutes afterwards we will do something from that. Thank you very much. Happy subath. Happy subath. Happy day. God is good and all the time God is good and that is his nature and we say wow. I want us to sing a song, chorus just to bring us to what we want to talk about and now please sing it with me. I'm happy today so happy In Jesus name I'm happy because he has taken away my sins away I'm happy so happy today The time to be happy There's a way to show it. I mean I know this thing is being recorded but there's a way we need to rename church. And the time to be happy is now and the place to be happy is here and the way to be happy is to make someone happy and to have a the people who are here physically how do you make someone happy? This person sitting next to you but you are just number one you are not singing number one you are not making somebody happy and that is how we do it here. Let me repeat it again. I'm happy today so happy In Jesus name I'm happy because he has taken away my sins away I'm happy so happy today The time to be happy is now the place to be happy is here and the way to make someone happy and to have a I'm happy to be here in this church My name is John O'Kello I work for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in East Kenya Union Conference I'm the Health Minister's Director and HIV AIDS Coordinator I'm also the Director of Adventist Possibility Ministries So my office is just about two minutes walk from here that is where my office is and I'm very happy that we are we are neighbors here and God is gracious enough to allow us that today we'll be here I've come with a colleague we have worked with in this HIV AIDS journey for some time probably around that is about seven years since we started working with him in this journey of HIV and AIDS So this presentation is divided into two parts The first part is the one I am starting now and it will basically involve giving some background about HIV and AIDS it will also involve and especially as far as the church is concerned it will also involve giving some situation analysis of HIV and AIDS and especially in this country Kenya because when you have that information that is what will inform how we react to what is going on Talking about AIDS without giving you some background information you will just see it like any other information So that is what I'm there to do I will introduce my colleague in part two when we come over here because in part two it is going to be an interactive session we will have some interview because we want to know exactly about HIV but interactive then after that I think we will give the congregation an opportunity to give their input in as far as HIV is concerned but at the end of it all please this is a calling to us by Jesus Christ the question we are going to ask ourselves at the end of this is that are we responding to the calling given to us by Jesus Christ in as far as those people who are disadvantaged in the society are concerned that is a question as an individual and also as a church globally and also as a local church that is what you need to come out with and I hope that we will pay attention to this and have a very very interactive session at the end of the day HIV I'm not going to give historical background but I'm going to give the one of the church the church seventh day Adventist church realized that HIV is going to be a problem in as far as the mission of this church is concerned that is something which was realized long time ago about 2003 remember HIV was detected somewhere around 1980-1981 but it took all those years for the church to realize that if it doesn't address the issues of HIV then is going to seriously seriously affect the mission of our church so that is when in 2003-2004 the church came together not in Washington but in ECD East Central Africa division that is where the meeting the global meeting for HIV was held at ECD in Rungai and that is where a resolution was made the church made a statement in response to HIV and that statement is what we are going with even as we move as a church so it's not that the church has abandoned HIV and has left it to the government and other stakeholders we are playing a very critical role in addressing issues and matters HIV and that is around the time when the church developed came up with a department and this department is a department at the general conference but its headquarters is in South Africa this department is called Adventist AIDS International Ministry it is supposed to address the issues of HIV in all its scope infection, prevention education addressing those people who may be having the virus support groups supporting those ones who any problem or any challenge related to HIV that is addressed by Adventist AIDS International Ministry so in our church it is AAIM but it is basically about HIV and AIDS so that is about the church remember first forward first forward on first every first of December every first of December each year the world celebrates what we call World AIDS Day and it will be the same this year World AIDS Day will be on first of December this year what happens in our church is that our church has also set aside one sabat every year to talk about issues HIV and AIDS and so it is always one sabat before first of December and we are supposed to do a lot and a series of activities preceding that day that sabat that is what we are supposed to do as a local church there are so many things which can be done about HIV and AIDS bringing the youth together to discuss matters of HIV and AIDS opening putting up screening centers where we can screen people freely for conditions like blood pressure BMI including HIV and sugar I mean it is supposed to run like that so that the climate is that sabat where now as a church we look at ourselves and ask what have we done so today for this year 26th of November 2022 is Global HIV AIDS Day which means from morning divine to afternoon we are now supposed to discuss matters HIV that is what we are supposed to do we are supposed to discuss matters HIV and we are supposed to ask ourselves is this a problem how much is it affecting us and what are we supposed to do out of it we can't discuss it when you don't have any figures any data figures inform actions which we need to take and so probably the first thing I need to do before I call my colleague to come over is to give you the situation analysis in Kenya I don't want to go global we are all in Kenya and we are interested in this one of Kenya so I want to give you some little situation analysis about HIV and let me tell you you know and I'm going to base my information on the data of 2021 that is the data which is complete 2022 is not yet complete but we have the data and you see the data for 2021 informs us of what steps we need to take are we making any progress or are we going the wrong direction we have 47 counties all of us know that this Kenya has 47 counties and when we want to give the situation analysis of HIV and AIDS in terms of infections and in terms of prevalence we do it based on categories we start with the counties 47 counties I want to be interested in the in the first 10 we call them top 10 counties and as far as people living with HIV is concerned people living with HIV top 10 counties then the last one maybe I should start with the last one the last one among all the 47 counties is Wajia Wajia last year reported only 800 people living with HIV that is Wajia so it is the one which is at the bottom it is the one which is at the bottom of all the counties in terms of prevalence now when we come to the top 10 I don't know whether I'll be able to mention all of them but there are some which I'm very sure you will be interested in Nairobi Nairobi leads people living with HIV Nairobi Nairobi first of all the people living with HIV in this country as at 2021 was 1.4 million 1.4 million people living with HIV as at 2021 so that is where now you will be dividing county by county until they reach 1.4 million people Nairobi we are in the middle of Nairobi I'm not going to give figures for all the counties but at least I'll give you the numbers Nairobi leads with 153,000 people living with HIV you know those are people who are tested and you are very much aware that there are people who have not been tested they have the virus but they have not been tested so they are not in our records I hope you are getting each other they are not in our records but at least the ones who are tested 153 then followed by Kisumu followed by Homa Bay Shiaia followed by Migori some people are laughing in that order then you have Mombasa coming in Mombasa coming in among the top 10 then you have Nakuru coming in among the top 10 then you have Kaka Mega coming in among the top 10 then you have Kiambu coming in among the top 10 then you have Kisi coming in among the top 10 then Bousia Kuloses that category so you can see now the rest work up a category among the first three Nairobi, Kisumu and Homa Bay have more than 100,000 people living with Nairobi Kisumu and Homa Bay in that order in fact Homa Bay has been leading for so long in the prevalence of people living with HIV and AIDS and when I saw the data and I saw Homa Bay is number 3 that's where I come from I said God thank you at least now we are number 3 we are not number 1 because we have been there for so long the reference point any NGO coming anybody coming to Homa Bay but right now I want to tell you Nairobi is the one leading with people living with HIV that tells you something please you live in Nairobi and those are only people who are tested you know what UN AIDS wants United Nations AIDS what they want maybe 30 you know we have what we call 95, 95, 95 maybe I should take one minute to explain to you what 95, 95, 95 means they are 3 95s so they follow each other in that order they are 3 95s the first 95 is that 95% of the people who have HIV know their status by 23 95% of people who have HIV not of the population but people who have HIV know their status that is the target UN AIDS has put globally I don't have the time to give you about Kenya and how far we have gone that probably is a discussion for another day so 95% of people who have HIV should know their status that should tell you that how will you know your status that's the question you ask you can only know your status when you test yourself or when you are tested and you have to voluntarily you have to voluntarily walk into a clinic and then say I want to know my status nowadays that's what we call HTS HTS you know you come to the facility that is one way of also collecting data one of the things which we will be done is to to test you for HIV but how many people get sick to walk into the hospital that's a question you will ask yourself then we have a very a very stubborn gender we have a very stubborn gender when they are sick they don't go to the hospital they would rather walk into the chemist buy a panadol you know the gender I am talking about you know the gender I am talking about they are missing in action in terms of this data very few are walking voluntarily to know their status that is the first 95 the second 95 is that 95% of the people who have HIV are put on antiretroviral treatment 95% should be on drugs there are lots of benefits when you take these drugs a lot of benefits definitely it will prolong your life as opposed to not taking the drugs then you are exposed to all sorts of infections we call them opportunistic infections and then you succumb nowadays ideally people are not supposed to die of HIV people are not supposed to die because of HIV related conditions if you faithfully take your drugs so our prayer and as a form of intervention is that 95% of people who have HIV positive should be on drugs we are telling you this because you are our ambassadors you will go out there and give the information because most of the places where HIV tests are done free of charge but if you decide to go to a chemist decide to go to a chemist you can also take the self testing kits and you test yourself because there are people who just naturally that fear of unknown fear of the result they are not prepared mentally to handle the result then the last 95 is that 95% of the people who are on antiretrovirals have what we call viral suppression they have viral suppression the virus is suppressed to an extent or to the level where if you prick and you test you will not find the virus you will not find the antibodies because it means that this virus has been taken they are hidden somewhere but they are not in blood and so when they are like that this is that your immune system is strong enough now to handle conditions and diseases think we are getting each other there it's supposed to be very clear your immune system but the moment you stop taking the drugs zitarudi zitarudi now that is what it's supposed to be I told you I gave you the 10 the 10 top counties let me go by sex by sex 2021 in terms of infection that data tells us that women of childbearing age and young girls are more likely to be affected actually are more affected as compared to to men we opened a forum for a discussion many reasons why that happens as compared to men and then when you look at that young girls even at the age of 15 already infected majority of them if they were exposed to the virus at the age of 15 already infected for boys for men delays probably around 1920 so that tells you that who are supposed to be taken care of in terms of virus so that is by by sex now if we go by age if we go by age and this I want this church to listen to me very carefully because all of us here are in different age categories but all of us must be ready to identify factors affecting us in different age groups and address them they only give by age they are not giving reasons why why this age group is more affected than it is now us to analyze and come out with some suggestions that it could be like this so when you analyze that data that is new infections by the way 2021 the total infections the total new infections we had in this country in 2021 were 32,000 32,000 new infections which completely fresh and new we added them in that basket of prevalence 32,000 but there seem to be a positive trend because when we go back to 2000 when you go back to 2000 you will find that the people infected that year were 120,000 120,000 were infected that year they will give you analysis for 205 2010, 2015 and then 2020 so 120,000 but now when you jump over to 2020 we had 41,000 new infections then now 2021 we have 32,000 new infections yes there are new infections but as you can see things are getting better and we don't want to loosen the what to loosen the belt we want to make sure that we keep tightening the belt so that we don't want analysis of 2022 somebody is telling us the infections increase to 35,000 we need to find out what is working for us and then we stick to those things working for us and we make sure that we address them so last year it was 2020 2021 was 32,000 I will not give you the last figures but of course 32,000 so this if you divide this per per age group per age group these new infections then you will find that children of 0 to 4 years children of 0 to 4 years contributed about 5000 children of 0 to 4 years now you see you have to interrogate your mind and find out 0 to 4 years what is happening here because remember we also have what we call PMTCT program prevention of mother to child transmission where we encourage mothers that when they are pregnant it is safer for them to go to the clinic as early as possible so that those people who have been diagnosed with the virus we can find a way of walking with them until delivery and this child should be able to come out of the uterus without the virus so when you hear 0 to 4 then something is happening interestingly again when you look at that data 5 to 14 is written 0 5 to 14 is written 0 so again that is the time when children girls are girls they are not engaged in any risky sexual behavior majority of them we have these kids at home and we know they are not engaged but not that they have known now when you come to 15 to 19 this is where we have the adolescence 15 to 19 then it starts climbing 15 to 19 again around 5000 then we have 20 to 24 another surround 4000 then 25 to 29 another 5000 so what you need to come up for now so then we have those 30s and above but what you need to realize mathematically if you look at that data we are talking about 32,000 new infections and then you pick this one of 0 to 29 years 0 to 29 years contributed 61% of new infections of new infections 0 to 29 years so that is 0 to 4 because that is a PMTCT issue which again we need to address even as a church I am giving you this information because the church has a role to play such as to Toei then now we remain with this group of 15 to 29 15 to 29 years boys and can I call them ladies and gentlemen 15 to 29 they contribute that percentage they contribute that percentage let's just talk about 61% of the new infections the question you will ask yourself it goes now as you go as the age increases as the age increases the numbers decline so at age 80 at age 80 barely found any any figures so then what we are saying is what is it that is going on in this age group there is a question which you will ask what is it that is going on in this age group of 15 to 29 but mostly mostly 15 to 19 mostly 15 to 19 20 or 20 onwards you know you are a young adult and we expect that you know exactly what you are doing that is what you know 20 to 29 you are a young adult and you know what should happen at age in a risky behavior then it is deliberate but this age of 15 let me even call it from age 13 to 19 these are people who need to be taken care of by the church and by the community in as far as lifestyle is concerned we need to find out another problem which we are experiencing again in this group this is what we call now triple threat triple threat is a threat which means this triple thing is likely to undo the gains we had already made against HIV if nothing is done about it that's why we call it triple threat triple threat is this that there are so many new infections among the adolescents people new HIV infections this is the first threat which means as I told you we are on the right track as a country we are on the right track but there is this threat of the adolescents the adolescents you know 10 to 19 by WHO definition those are people who are in a certain phase and they are facing a very dangerous period in their lifetime if not guided well then we are going to lose these young people somewhere in the middle so that is the first threat the second threat is that we are experiencing an upsage of teenage pregnancies and again teenage pregnancy is here again we are talking about 15 to 19 upsage of teenage pregnancies pregnancy is an evidence pregnancy is an evidence that you had an activity is an evidence when everybody sees it is an evidence so what if it is not biblically legalized those are biblically illegal pregnancies so that is so if it is if there is pregnancy it means there was unprotected sexual activity when there is unprotected sexual activity the chances that there are risks of getting HIV infection very high because that is you know the preventive measures which again we will not go into we know very well so that is the second threat the third threat that's what triple threats the third threat is what we call sexual and gender based violence violence against a certain gender and most times it's against women and guns this is a threat to us in terms of response to HIV all the games we have made we may not be able to control now but as I told you we are on the right track as a country we just need to put strong measures at all levels in the community in our churches we have to put very strong programs to address issues of HIV and especially bringing the youth on board bringing the young people on board not in terms of condemning them but first of all can all of us know our status so when you ask me do you know your status I'll tell you yes but you will not ask me are you positive or negative that one I will not discuss with you but at least I shall have gone to a clinic and I have known my status so there are a lot of interventions of programs we need to put in the church so that we synergize what the government and other stakeholders are doing to address HIV and that's why today we chose that we come over as part of world global Adventist HIV AIDS suburb to discuss and give you this information so that we can find what should be the way forward as an individual and as a church so that is the snapshot analysis I wanted you to have a broader picture of the issues of HIV and AIDS and you see now with that picture some people are infected some people are affected so how do we react and how do we respond to this and with that I think I need to stop there and I just said that we can have some little very short break then after that we'll come to the interview then after the interview we'll give some few minutes for interactions thank you so much and God bless you thank you so much for that we are going to have a song during this intermission and we'll make you still of our SD hymnals the song is 604 that says we know not the hour 604 happy sabath happy sabath again I want to take this opportunity to thank you the congregation both online and physical what we are discussing is very very important not only to us as individuals but also as church members as church members as church members as church members and as a global church HIV AIDS sabath is not supposed to be taken for granted is something which if we don't take measures to address it then it becomes a little bit difficult and it becomes uncomfortable for us to address it the moment we come out and talk about HIV that is when we will openly and freely handle matters HIV but the moment we make them private that it is your private affair somebody is being affected somewhere and somebody is being put at risk somewhere just in one minute I think about 2 weeks or 3 weeks ago I was called in one of the royal media TV stations this is Ramogi Ramogi TV they have a discussion in the evening called Hengelaktar so we are talking about HIV and it's a one hour discussion on that TV what surprised me is that the moment I finished talking then the forms started coming over people with different problems people with different challenges in as far as HIV is concerned what caught my eye is the secrecy with which people keep to themselves about their HIV status they cannot even disclose to their nearest relative and that is I think wife and husband so I remember 3 no 5 ladies called me 5 and how they knew how their husbands had HIV is they found drugs under the bed drugs and they went to the hospital and as they were told these are HIV these are antiretroviral drugs that is how much we still are not open to discuss matters HIV so the biggest challenge is stigma and disclosure stigma and disclosure we still stigmatize HIV so much to an extent where when you are diagnosed with HIV virus is like you are a criminal is like you are a criminal but this is what we want to do we want to stigmatize HIV we make it like any other disease you go freely for a test handle it competently protect yourself and protect your love that is what we are saying and so this afternoon this sabat I have come with my colleague as you have seen and as you can all see definitely his dressing tells you he is not an adventist but he has graciously accepted to come and talk to us about HIV and his journey in all aspects with HIV and I hope that out of this discussion you will understand how important issues of disclosure are so that we can reach where we want to go we said I talked about 95, 95, 95 and please let us make sure that we take that into consideration without going far I think I need to give my colleague because in this journey of HIV we have worked with him we have gone to several meetings we have facilitated a lot of meetings involving church members, religious leaders the youth in an effort as a faith community faith community not now adventist, not now catholic but as group faith community to also address the issues of HIV several questions is going to give us in a nutshell because I can see they have put for us a timer I hope that this one will be enough for us they have given us 30 minutes to do that, hope it will be enough for us so that you can also be given time to do interaction so Bishof please tell us thank you very much my name is James Sokombo I'm a Bishof with Free Christian Assemblies Churches of Kenya my church where I pastor is here in Kajole around Nyando area that's where the church is I'm a married man to one wife Caroline Oteano I have 16 children don't get surprised biology called 16 children and as time goes we'll talk I will tell you how 16 children came but right now I'm married to Caroline my dear wife she was not able to be here she could have been by my side just to talk to me thank you sir you said that you are a Bishof the church is it one church or it is a network of churches in the whole country our church is a network of church in the whole country we have about 27 branches country wide we are growing slowly with our headquarter here in Nairobi thank you free Christian Assemblies Churches of Kenya not free Pentecost people confused with free Pentecost we are free Christian thank you so you are the head of all this the founder and the head of the church but not the boss we are just co-working because the fellowship belongs to Christ we are just netting people just to make sure that they know Christ and are able to live according to the word of God we are Bible oriented people we are not people who preach heresy where we demand we demand tides we demand offering, we demand money we demand we force people for healing we are Bible oriented we are serious with the word of God thank you 1 minute please expand about your family just in 1 minute I have a very interesting family 1 minute when you talk of children between 13 and 16 that's where I fall strongly in a family many people know what we call Kalongo you are aware of Kalongo when you are between 12 and 16 there is a father and a mother for the lures for the lures actually we are very notorious for lures they know about Kalongo but Kalongo this is a children's play of a father and a mother at that tender age at my 13 year I had a girl who was 15 sex better than we were 13 and during those Kalongo we found ourselves engaging into sexual intercourse and the result was a child we also we also didn't know what to do with that the parents were wondering it was not true but true because the result was seen and we had nothing to do so I got my first boy child now I am 60 you can guess my son is how old that son must be around 46 years old he is 46 years old I have a grandchild two grand children the reason we are having this is we are trying to be as open as possible some people may be uncomfortable with this disclosures but this is what disclosures is all about so that we know where we have come from and we want to know the direction we are going now let's go to the key issue we want to talk about HIV first of all do you know your status yes I know my status very well actually I know my HIV status yes you know your HIV status very well are you free to tell us your status because status can mean two things either you are positive or you are negative so sometimes we keep it to ourselves but are you free to tell us your status I am very free to share with you my status because if somebody can find something in what I am going to say just to support you and help you I am very glad but if you don't find anything if you find nothing is still okay just listen to my words my status I am HIV positive I knew my status in 1998 and I knew it when I was a pastor not just an ordinary person the journey was very difficult because the church I was serving was a Pentecostal church they were not happy with what happened to me and at that level they decided to throw me out of the church to stay away from the church the reason why I went to the church or how I got to be a Christian is after I had gone through so many things in fact my first 8 children came before I became a Christian the first 8 I was a luqwam going to church not going to church or things like that but the 8 children came when I was not a Christian they don't have their mothers with me their mothers are hanging somewhere with the other ass bands because I could not marry all of them but they left the children for me I am happy the children are growing well they are good some of them are 70 day adventists to members 3 of them very strong I will not tell you where they are but they are in Nairobi Doctoria has met 2 of them I don't have their mothers their mothers are not with me they are happy somewhere praying for me now that I am a pastor thank you 1998 to date you have worked that journey of HIV I have worked that journey of HIV from 1998 the first 5 years it was very difficult for me because of stigma because of so many things were happening and to make it more very hard because I was a pastor and the information there was not very clear actually HIV was for those people who are either prostitutes those who are people who work anyhow do things actually generally it was for sinners and that is the category I felt I fought in and it was very difficult but as time began going by with the information I began to understand what HIV is I even began to recall how I got HIV and how I even infected my wife Caroline I started getting into knowing those and finally I had to come into terms with what was happening with me and make sure that I find a new life to live to take care of my children and live a life that is also pleasing to God thank you good that is a journey so how did you overcome stigma until you disclosed and who did you disclose to the journey was very tough and even disclosing like today I can say it very freely laughing publicly but it wasn't like this before it was very difficult because when we were tested we were here in Nairobi was tested here in Bagati it was very difficult even to disclose my wife was the first first person to show signs she had TB very thin we had good money and food but it could not help us so at the hospital we found HIV positive later on I was found HIV positive but our family disowned us all of us even the clan the clan here in Nairobi said I should remain in Nairobi and be buried at Langata the church was not with me so I was completely alone but I met with the world vision this organization called world vision one had come to talk to the community around where I used to live at that time and I joined them and they began talking about HIV and I went one of them and disclosed and said my friend I'm HIV positive in fact what I was looking for was a job I was looking for sympathy to find a job with the organization because there was so much on HIV and I realized I could find something with them so I disclosed and I gave them my story I said I was a clergy now I can no longer be a clergy and so on they began empowering me giving me information taking me to workshops helping me joining support groups and then I began to grow so as I grew I found it good even to start a support group which to me with AIDS by them the word HIV was not so much the word was AIDS so we started in Soweto, Kajole a group of about 20 people a group of people were living with HIV and we began bringing experts people to talk to us share with us by that time we were looking for sympathy people could give us food I did not have work people could come donate we eat we feel good but also wondering where we go we died things like that but from there we began looking unto God and that's how we started free Christian assemblies churches of Kenya today it's not an HIV church it's a general church like this one and everybody's happy we talk about HIV just like you are talking about it here but we preach also the gospel so that is I became stigma when we started our support group and began talking in the issues of HIV so you have overcome the stigma of HIV me I don't have any stigma you call me anywhere I've been radio, radio Ramogi I've been publicly in Citizen TV, KTN everywhere I am YouTube, you Google Bishop James Okombo you'll find me there in YouTube I'm everywhere with the information on HIV you call me I will come and share with you the exact things that I'm saying here today my family all my 16 children all my 13 children 3 are still very young but all my 13 children even right now YouTube they are watching they are very happy one is in UK watching right now another one is in Germany DOTA is watching right now they have even told me dad we are happy that you are sharing with the people and one is watching from and they are just very happy in my family we are just people are ready to tell people the truth so that people may live a life that is pleasing to God when did you start taking drugs? I'm on ARV drugs right now and I want to tell you today if we go to the normal testing before it was called VCT today it is HTC that one you cannot find HIV in my blood until you go to the other one that they do for children that's when you can find U equals U means I'm undetectable I've used drugs since 22005 that's when I started using ARVs and I've used drug religiously to date my 4 children I have 4 children umu are born when we knew our status and they are HIV free the ones I've said 3 are still in primary one right now is in one has just done the high school we have 4 that are born through PMTST program when we are HIV positive but the remaining ones just God is just gracious they are not HIV positive so you are confirming to us that if you consistently take your antiretroviral drugs then the likelihood that you live a normal life is just there if you take your drugs religiously the drugs before there were so many but now is only one drug for 24 hours so like I take one in the morning again tomorrow I take in the morning I take my drug at 7 am again tomorrow at 7 am just one drug like this if you take them correctly in a good time you will struggle with other things but not opportunistic infection we have opportunistic infection which come as a result or you are not adhering to some other health things that are put for you eating things like that today I would say that I am struggling with with the weight and I went down with my wife she is very very serious when it comes to weight she makes with that I just don't eat anyhow you know sometimes if you are not if you are not put to a fix you can always misbehave she makes with that I eat my weight is taken care of personally I believe in seeing a doctor when I have an ailment or I feel any problem and doctor will tell you I even call him what could this be that's what I believe in so religiously when you take your drugs you can live a very normal life like now if I could not have told you I am HIV positive you could not know it just as any other person in town when I don't have my collar I am just like any other person there that's right I remember one time we were with you in Noma Bay for a training oh yes and you were coming back to Nairobi I was going home and that's when you mentioned the dragon Swalwood and it was not ashamed of saying that those are antiretroviles yeah sometimes you can be overworked or have certain things like I usually travel when you are travelling a lot sometimes the hours changes you find yourself instead of 7 you find it is 12 but those are very small things what I mean is so if anybody is here always on ARV aviarans is the key aviarans is the key another thing which maybe I would also support in helping you understand is that disclose to the person next to you I mean you are beloved one that person who can give you help in times when you need help be free and disclose to such a person it's good to disclose to your partner if both of you are free or it's also good to disclose to your friends so let people know those who are around you know what you are going to do like me people around me know in the church all my pastors that I work with I have a few are HIV positive but those who are very close to me I tell them the most inner things that even if they see me at some point nosing in the seat they just know muze wachapu muzeke so they don't hurry me in certain certain things so they are around me they understand me and that gives me a lot of comfort and easy life to live so disclose disclose is very key disclose let your doctor know somebody is close to you let them know and that is how you will begin to send stigma away from you we have self stigma which sometimes is very difficult to maintain so self stigma is one of the things that makes people go wrong when it comes to HIV that's right so you you are confirming to us here that HIV infection does not have a boundary it doesn't regard age it doesn't regard social status it does in the society you can be anybody you can be a leader so as long as your lifestyle is not in conformity with what is expected you can be exposed to the virus I really want to admit that I didn't get HIV when I was a pastor not when I was a pastor but I knew my status when I was a pastor so you had about my lifestyle and I want to say that I didn't get HIV through maybe blood transfusion I got HIV through I mean unprotected sex and if you hear the life when I started I can't say exactly when I got HIV but from the age of 13 when I was introduced to sex I mean penetrative sex until the time I became a Christian I began moving away from things that were now disconnecting me from hearing from God and become a man a person who really want to be a Christian a good Christian working with God so between there I didn't live a life that was very pleasing and this goes to young people the certain things that we do the repercussion or the result of them can interfere with our future what interfered with my future is the life I lived I was not a bad boy that you would want to ken no, I wasn't that bad I was polite I knew how to talk but I had some things that I would do privately nobody would know them but at the end of the day you can hear now the outcome so it's good to just make sure by yourself that you control yourself God in heaven sees you but what about yourself do you value your life do you see that life like in future it will be meaningful to you today as much as it's not good my children are seeing things like now they are watching me talking about HIV they are just contented because I am their father but really it's not a nice thing if your father says HIV positive thank you now people understand what we call faith healing in different ways some people have a feeling that when you contract HIV virus you can go to somebody religious leader and the religious leader can pray for you and you will be HIV free some people say that you don't have to take antiretrovirals after you have been prayed for how do you understand faith healing and how do you interpret it I want to say as a man of God or as a clergy that our God is a healer and I don't want to dispute the healing of God personally I am saying I am healed because even to accept that I am HIV positive that is a healing it's not easy to accept to take drugs is a healing but I am against people who take other people's problem for granted or they trade with it I am really not happy about that because I tell people I wonder why would God take Dr. John O'Kello to be a doctor then become useless to the community why would God allow him to go to the university do studies become a doctor then when he comes home is useless we go back to the hubs to soil to the shadow you take a razor blade to kikata isha doyako why do we go to that and the Bible is very clear when Jesus healed every now every time Jesus healed somebody somebody was sent to go and confirm somebody sent to go and confirm I have never seen in the Bible why Jesus healed somebody just go home you are healed you are healed go and confirm go and bring the report now HIV has no keyword that is the truth HIV is a biological because I would call it a medical issue there is no demon in HIV there is no seen in HIV HIV is a virus and this virus it needs the attention of medicine that is why we have ARVs they suppress the virus so that it sleeps mine has just slept we are sleeping if I live taking my drugs today they will wake up and become more worse so faith healing is good but go and see a doctor because the doctor will help you mend your life better if you have your very good suit like now this mine is not very good but it's very good if it has a tear somewhere and I still need it I take it to the tailor they know how to work on it if my shoes have a problem and I still need them I repair them this body God has given us wisdom and knowledge to repair it through cleanliness so many things God has availed to us so that we are able to live this body is able to live a life that can work for God and going to this I'm sorry if one of them is your neighbor or your brother these people with the teeny houses and some flabs healing munguana ponya come here and so on and if you go inside there in fact you see the person praying praying for healing praying for you for healing ata ekwaza dimugonja kukushinda ata you wonder what did you come to do there so what I'm trying to say here is that our God heals but can you follow the procedures after praying what next I usually ask people doctorie that how do we get malaria is that a small mosquito a devil Mosquito is real Mosquito is not a demon if you play with mosquito and you get malaria and you don't take drugs we will go and preach like this we will tell you after you have gone we loved you so much but God loved you more than us either you live yatima mama mujane we get more problems into that so doctorie God our God heals but less focus also in the medication which is more key in supporting us to live long we just have less than 3 minutes to finish this discussion but I would wish that you you tell us when we looked at the information I gave the data the people who are more at risk of getting new infections are people between the age of 15 to 19 what role can the church play to protect these young people so that they don't get at risk and what you do how can we assist the youth to navigate through this tumultas period in life my my take in this is this we are me personally I preach abstinence to my young people abstinence 100% we may look at other issues I tell those who have gone astray a little bit that they receive secondary abstinence so I preach abstinence and I am strongly for abstinence but I have an issue with parents where I am one of them when our children come to experts tells them about abstinence the teachers of the world, the pastors here youth pastors you talk to our children about abstinence but when they come home okombo is a father has not talked about it okombo is a shame very few times do I sit with my children down and talk about sexuality what is wrong with sharing with these children because they are growing up me I have seen my children grow up they were just the other day she was walking naked in front of us after about 2 years she does not even want you to see anything tells you the child is growing you need to take action so the word is can our young people abstain but can we send abstinence by talking to our young people let give our young people let have an environment where they are able to talk to us to talk to us what they don't have let them talk to you let them tell me what they don't have more even what they tell their mother I go to supermarket I buy for them the best I can I don't want a boy to buy for my daughter in a fund I don't I want to buy for her so that she feels that my father loves me my father is part of my life and that way our children will grow so our parents please can we help our children thank you thank you so much so I can see that we haven't had time for the interview but I think Dr. Grace has 15 more minutes which is supposed to end at 4 and we just want to appreciate you for accepting to come over so that we can talk in this environment on matters HIV and we thank you for being so kwa mwishwi wihadi maw time, so that we could have more interactive discussions. But I know that God willing, we'll still be having some time to discuss. Thank you so much. Congregation once online, and the ones who are here. Thank you for listening. May God be with us, even as we plan to address issues and matters HIV, can we know exactly what role the church can play to address issues of HIV? Thank you so much and God bless you. Amen. Thank you so much and God bless you. Okay. Okay, I think we will pray first before we leave. Can we just rise for our prayer? Heavenly Father, we want to thank you Lord for the love and the compassion and mercy you have upon us. This day, the global church set it aside to address issues and matters of HIV and AIDS. And thank you for Nairobi Centralist Day Church for the plans and the programs they had. And thank you for what has happened from morning up to now. A special way I want to thank you, your Lord for Bishopo Kombo, who saw it good enough to come and share with us his experiences about HIV and AIDS and how he has lived with it throughout his life. The Lord we just want to pray for him that continue to give him more health that he may still continue to walk in the corners of this country to address this issue if it's still a pandemic in our globe. Pray for this church and Nairobi Central Advanced Church that their Lord talk in their minds, talk in the minds of the leadership that they may take this issue very seriously and put in programs which will deliberately address the issues of HIV and AIDS. And now as we want to stop this program at this moment, I love continue to be with us as we part. Bless us and remember us in thy kingdom to come. I pray and trust in Jesus, holy name. Amen. I request that we stand just once again and as remain standing as we use the SDA Hymnos song number four or six law what a glorious site appears. Let us stand. Low water, glorious site Appears to our building On rolling sky We join it to pass No, when we meet it's to pass And in kid motto It's to pass It's to pass And in kid motto It's to pass And in kid motto It's to pass And in kid motto Thank you so much, Korysters and everyone for the such eternal father we come before you. Indeed we yarn that time would fly so that we meet to part no more with even those of our loved ones whom we have cried and mourned in tears been. We thank you Lord for how loving you are that you give us eternal hope through the faith that is found in Christ Jesus. This afternoon as we gather again having had the lessons that we've had we pray Lord that you may continue to bless us even in the program that we have ahead of us bless and be with us in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, thank you. Korysters, we will call you in a short while but now friends I request as I open my Bible to the book of Second Corinthians the episode of Paul to Second Corinthians I want to ask the new baptized members to make their way up front. All those who have been baptized please make your way up front so that we give you a hand of fellowship. Thank you so much. I ask also the parents and the guardians family to accompany them and stand right behind them. Stand behind the child you have been mentoring or you are relative or a friend. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Now we have our Bible open to the book of Second Corinthians chapter 5 and I read verse 14 and then verse 18 to 21 let's pray as we read the word of any father your word is open before us we pray you Lord that you may make it clear through the Holy Spirit to our hearts as you are the one to give us revelation and inspiration. Thank you Lord because spiritual things are spiritually discerned and you have sealed us with the Holy Spirit who is a guarantee that we are your sons and daughters. Thank you for listening and answering us in your Masi and goodness in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Verse 14 of chapter 5 of Second Corinthians it says this for the love of God compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all then all died first 17 and then to 21 therefore if anyone is in Christ Jesus is a new creation all things have passed away behold all things have become new now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is that God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Hallelujah. This is a beautiful message that we are no longer the people we've been with the history that we may have and you as children you have added to your daddy and mommy another important member of the family God himself who is your daddy and the daddy of your daddy and your mommy amen and so God loves us and He wants us to know that we have this love that makes us move forward and so the scripture is saying we are the ambassadors because God is speaking through us to tell others come and be friends with God. Hallelujah. How many of you as newly baptized people would like to tell others about how good it is to be in Jesus? Please put up your hand. Just so you have been baptized now you want to be ambassadors and to be moved by the love of God you want to tell others so that we have so many coming we baptize them again thank you so much thank you so much so I want us to pray and then we will sing Water Fellowship Choristers thank you so much thank you so much now as they take up their mics readiness to sing I request that we pray let's pray may we wait for my young friend to get back yes thank you let's pray heavenly Father we thank you Lord that indeed you didn't keep us far from you but you chose to reconcile us to yourself through Christ Jesus who died and became poor so that we can gain heaven now Lord you have made us ambassadors you are pleading through us may your power be seen in everything that each of these children young ones spiritually who have taken this step today having been baptized and sealed with the Holy Spirit in today's public display Lord just as you pronounced when Christ came from the water and walked out of the river and you said behold this is my son in whom I am well pleased may you be well pleased by each and everyone of these dear souls strengthen and walk with them just as you have worked with us Lord in the past and remind us to hold their hands and encourage them Father we pray that you may write the book of remembrance as they read the scriptures as they share with others so that when you come in glory with your reward we may all receive that reward thank you for this ministry that you have given us may your will be done may your name be honoured now and forever as you work in each and everyone of them to will and to do according to every good pleasure that you have thank you Lord for this moment as now we give them a hand of fellowship we know this joy in heaven and you have already received them and you have written in the book of life their names and as you said he who comes to you you shall in no way cast away and that you will keep until the last day those whom have come to you they have come to you Lord just as we have come to you work with them work with us as a church bless us abundantly Jesus name we pray amen thank you so much now I want to ask you candidates to turn back just turn back turn back turn back hallelujah these are all the people they are these people who are saying they will work with you they will hold your hand they will make sure that you don't forget to pray amen thank you so much thank you so much I want to ask that you may have them before I ask the elders to come up front please elders and heads of department youth ministry dekondri adventist men please come please come please come please come all elders heads of departments please come what a fellowship what a joy divine living on the everlasting house what is water which is my living on the everlasting house safe and secure from God living on God bless you God bless you it's only everlasting on day to day live safe and secure from church what we say may the Lord bless and expand the boundaries of this church and make us truly a church that is multiplying and increasing according to the will of the Lord God bless you thank you so much for that beautiful work we may reshum our seats thank you happy day there's a beautiful message that these children have to pass to us parents kindly it's not just any poem it's very important word so pay attention to each one of them thank you please come to the kids in the discipleship ministry food prince for kids class 2022 let's begin by asking ourselves who is a disciple a disciple of Jesus is someone who lives every day to love Jesus and bring others to him have you ever found anything so good that you'd go any type anywhere at any price for the love of it well that's how it feels like to be a disciple of Jesus come to Jesus come to Jesus with all your problems addictions, stresses and fears come to him with your guilt your shame with painful weight of painful memories we too often think we can fix what is wrong before we come to Jesus I urge you to come to him without doing anything else he will take you just as you are Jesus has a special invitation Jesus has given each of us a special invitation to become his disciple this invitation sometimes takes people by surprise many may find it hard to believe that Jesus wants to have a special invitation special relationship with you may you be your close friend or you have never made a decision to follow him or you want to know him better the indiscipleship ministry offer some simple solutions to help you become a disciple and bring others to him the book of Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 to 20 says and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth so go there for to all nations and make and make go there for to all nations and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe observe all that I command and law I am always with you until the end of the age this is what the Lord has commanded unto us but if you agree with me many times we neglect the most life threatening souls to be won that is our family members if you are a parent serving in church let's say church pastor elder or perhaps deacon or deconess at what profit organ would it be to you if you want so many souls at the cost of your own family's expense we live in a fast pace work orientated culture that places high priority on both time and money whether we're at home or at work we can get so involved with urgent things and neglect the important things is indeed more delightful and of great importance to lead our variant to Christ and to start from Jerusalem before we go to Samaria Judea ultimately to the Gentiles good news is that we can do this by becoming prime spiritual mentors of your family members children brothers and sisters children brothers and sisters do you want to know how in the book of Matthew 4 verse 19 and he said to them come and I'll make you fishers of men friend you may have known Jesus for many years a few months or not at all I challenge you to read the scriptures to know for yourself how to follow him do not be satisfied to merely hear what others say of Jesus read with a hunger to know him and follow him all the way through the discipleship ministry footprints for parents and mentors it helps you to go deep with God and to encounter sorry and to and it equips you the Bible shoots and skills in life transforming journey on how to become a prime spiritual mentor for your family members the adventure is worthwhile because God is more than ready to bless you and strengthen you in your friendship with him as you offer your willing heart the spirit will help you to become more like Jesus he will empower you to share the word of Jesus with boldness to your children and to choose those that are close to you as a matter of fact the relationship with your children will become more enhanced and family affairs will become more meaningful nothing is too difficult with God keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak pray by sharing how you really feel and be honest you may be thinking how can I know if I am hearing God speak to my heart my friend always test your impressions and convictions by his written word God will never lead in a way that contradicts his written word trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him do not let your heart be troubled believe in God and believe also in me says Jesus always remember that Jesus has the power to help you and to save you because he died for you and will never stop loving you above all he is your friend and he wants to start a relationship with you and with the entire family has someone ever mentored you to do something that has added value to your life how did it feel to get mentored to do something that you didn't really know how to do well now you can imagine how it feels like to mentor your own children into your own steps and to the steps of Christ isn't that the wish of every parent and the light of every child oh come and oh come taste and see the goodness of the Lord in this wonderful family adventure in kids in discipleship footprints for kids health regain focus in participating in building your relationship with Jesus knowing the trust of Jesus and sharing him with others in case you still have doubt and fear remember God has promised to be with us to the very end of age parents please do not deny this opportunity of brothers and sisters becoming a disciple of Jesus also remember that also remember that that a disciple of Jesus is someone who lives a little bit love Jesus and bring others to him this is the whole duty of man and the goal is to make it to heaven with all our loved ones so dear parents will you heed to the call of becoming a disciple of Jesus will you disciple me thank you happy Sabbath church yes this is our last presentation as kids in discipleship team and these are the parents we have a message for you from Deutronomy chapter 6 verse 4 to 9 and then Proverbs 622 so you can follow in the bible as we sing thank you I bend my eyes now I bend my heart I sign up on thy heart and there shall be a spotless between thine eyes that shall frighten the way he should go he will not give up in team two train up a child in the way he should go and he will not give up from his train up a child in the way he should go and he will not give up for me praise the lord I believe we've really been blessed this day we've gotten quite a lot that God had prepared for us and I know as you go home you're aware of what God would require of us we need to be our spiritual mentors of our children let's help them to grow to work for God and to serve Him I would want us to stand so that we can close with a word of prayer let's all rise up so that we can have the last prayer for the day I want us to believe and pray thank you I also would want to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone who participated in the program this day starting from the sabah school we had the divine hour we had the afternoon program led by the health ministry department I want to thank you all for participating I also thank the children in discipleship ministry and the teachers and all of us that were able to participate in one way or the other I also want to thank those who are following us on that is a YouTube and on various platforms and also the people that are in church that have stayed to this point thank you so much and may God bless you and may keep you in the faith I want us to now believe as we pray together let's believe and pray our gracious Lord our Father wet in heaven we are indeed so grateful because you've been with us when we came this morning we sought you that you may guide us through the day that you may speak to us indeed God you've spoken to us you've taught us many things through your various servants that you anointed to speak this day we are so grateful and we appreciate all that you've done to us commit each and everyone who participated in one way or the other that Father may you bless them together with our families that they may be able to continue growing and continue growing in your faith and trusting in you may the Holy Spirit continue covering them and continue guiding them and directing us all in the ways of the ways of righteousness thank you for each and everyone starting from the children that I've stayed this far the parents the leadership of this church the church officials that have been able to be with us the church members that have been sitting and listening we pray that Father continue to speak to us and continue to guide us even as we now come to the end over today's program we invite you to continue speaking to us continue preparing us that Father we may be ready when you come and bring your kingdom or God forgive us where we did not do well and Father remember each and everyone of us in your kingdom thank you because you've had our prayer due to us in accordance to your will our humble prayer in Jesus name amen and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore amen God bless you