Bernard Michen

Bernard michen; age: 35; occupation: farmer

bernard is HIV positive. he lives on a dust road about 30 minutes from the town center of chogoria on a 1/4 acre far. He grows mostly tea and nepea grass to feed to his single bullock that he has been raisin. He bought it 4 months ago, newly-born, and hopes to sell it when it is full grown. Until he can start a full-time bull-raising business, he and his wife supplement their income by selling theor own tea and assisting with the harvest of friend's tea.

he doesn't have muchg money, and was thus eager to join village hopecore to raise a bit of captial to start his bull business. Since receiving the $120 in his month of the merry-go-round, he has bought more food for his bull and improves his tea far with fertilizer. this is oinly the beginning though, since he is waiting for a $400 loan that will let him pursue his dream career of bull-raising. With a business like this, he could increase his income to substantially over a dollar a day thus pulling himself out of poverty.

He is going to need this money since he fiound out that his wife of 1 year is pregnant. Now in her 8th month, she is being treated at the clinic to make sure that she has a happy, healthy life, and that her baby is AIDS free. They haven't picked out a name yet because they aren't sure of the gender and want to be surprised!

Bernard and his wife prisca live in a less than 100 squ foot, plyboard home. There is a single bedroom and bed which has a malaria net donated by pepfar, and a single living room with a wooden table and chair. Comics from the newspapers line the walls. Bernard says that reading the football cartoons is his chief enjoyment when he is not working. When his bull business takes off, he hopes to expand his house for his new daughter.

It has been difficult to secure a loan from the large regional banks due to his HIV status. After having 2 cases of TB in the 90s, bernard got tested in 1995 and found out that he was hiv positive. His then girlfriend and now wife also tested HIV positive. he's not sure where or when he was infected, but he suspects that is was while he was working as a minbus conductor in the 80s and 90s. HE says that manyt people are afraid to be tested and share their results with the community, even though he has. Fortunately, his family has been extremely supportive of him and his illness as with his wife. He derives great strength from the other members of his village Hopecore group who share their storieds about medicine, courage in sharing their status, and overcoming an illness that cripplles many people physically and socially. Both he and his wife see the clinic every 2 months for AIDS check-ups and have their CD-4 counts under control.

His family has lived on his current farm since 1976, and he proudly shares it with his 10 brothers and sisters who form a close community on the hill. He hopes to one day give this land to his soon to be family if he has the good fortune to secure a loan from VHI.