In 1997 Gilbert Odanji Adams was an ordinary nine-year-old boy attending Huruma Primary School in Nairobi. His hardworking father had climbed the corporate ladder and now had a well-paid job as assistant manager at a major manufacturing company. For Gilbert and his four brothers and sisters, life was comfortable and trouble-free. 

Then, one day, all that changed. Gilbert remembers how his father - literally overnight, it now seems - became weak and sickly, and had to make frequent visits to the hospital. He recalls the devastating shock when he returned from school one day to be told his father had died. 

"Dad had not made any preparations to die," says Gilbert. "My mum was a housewife and did not have money to pay for our flat or feed us. She asked dad's relatives to assist but they said they weren't able to. I started realising that life was going to be very different now that dad was gone." 

There was no option but for the family to move to Gilbert's maternal grandmother's home in Rangwe, Homa Bay. Suddenly, his grandmother, an elderly peasant farmer, had another six mouths to feed. With her meagre earnings, she managed to send Gilbert's older brother and sister to school. But there was no money left for Gilbert. 

Then, in 2000, came another shock. Gilbert's mother suddenly fell ill and died, leaving the responsibility for her children entirely to his grandmother. Barely a year later, Gilbert had to endure another tragedy as his youngest brother died of lymphatic problems shortly after his seventh birthday. 

And yet, for Gilbert - unlike so many thousands in his position - hope had not deserted entirely. The local chief owned a primary school in Rangwe, and had seen the potential in this bright boy. He was able to pay for his education until Gilbert reached class seven, just a year away from his primary finals. 

At this stage, the chief could not afford to continue supporting him. But Gilbert's grandmother had other ideas. She had heard of the Chung'ni Kimiyu Widows Group, an AMREF-funded group that assists orphaned children in Homa Bay with school fees and other support. After a series of interviews with the group, Gilbert was ruled eligible for sponsorship. 

Today, Gilbert is one of 200 orphans receiving sponsorship from the AMREF Widows and Orphans Support Project. Through the sponsorship, he has been able to complete primary school and is now a form two student at the Homa Bay Secondary School, where he boasts a B average. For the first time, his hopes of going on to university to study accounting do not just seem an idle dream. 

"I really appreciate the support I've received," says Gilbert, standing outside the school in his smart uniform. "Because of this scholarship programme, I have my uniform, my books, and I now know I will complete secondary school in two years' time. My education has been given back to me." 

The Chung'ni Kimiyu group was instrumental in the launch of the Homa Bay project back in 2000. It was then that AMREF was approached by Margaret Odhiambo, a 37-year-old HIV-positive widow, who was struggling to bring up her 10 children as well as those of some relatives who had recently died. Margaret wanted to start a self-help group with 12 other widows in Gangre village - most of them also HIV-positive - to increase their income-generating opportunities and send all their children back to school. 

The proposal was immediately approved by AMREF, which saw the commitment of the women to create a better life not only for their own children but for those of their relatives - and to do it through their own hard work. With initial funding of just £2,000, AMREF opened up the road leading to the group's village and paid the school fees and uniforms for 50 orphans in the area. 

Margaret Odhiambo's story is tragically typical of so many women in Homa Bay. When her husband and one of her co-wives died, she insisted on going for an HIV test - an act of defiance that led to her immediate ostracism by her husband's family. Her refusal to be 'inherited' by her husband's brothers led to the delay of her husband's burial, and eventually to her being raped by a stranger in order to gain her 'blessing' for the burial. 

Despite the initial stigma when her HIV test came back positive, Margaret says she has been touched by the sympathy of strangers. "I was introduced to a very nice counsellor at Homa Bay District Hospital who told me how I could continue living positively for a long time. She encouraged me to start a support group with other widows to help us come to terms with our situation." 
Margaret wasted no time in calling together the widows of Gangre. After using her own savings to register them as a self-help group, AMREF began to supply the group with tools and water-tanks and they launched some simple income-generating activities: weeding neighbours' farms, growing vegetables for sale, making bricks. 

Today, the group has grown from its initial 13 members - four of whom have died - to a membership of 34. Its success has led to the establishment of 12 other widows' groups with over 240 members. With AMREF's support, the groups have managed to expand their income-generating activities to include small trading businesses, farming, basket-weaving and pottery. The Chung'ni Kimiyu group now runs a large brick-making business, and recently started providing catering services for functions in the village. 

"As well as our original goal of sending 200 orphans back to school, we've been able to support a wide variety of activities to provide their families with income and other vital support," says project manager Gideon Oswago. "We support income-generating activities with tools and funding, we conduct voluntary HIV counselling and testing, and we provide nutritional supplements and medicines for a home-based programme for people living with the disease." 
Through AMREF's Home-Based Care Programme, the widows' groups together with a local nurse visit some 36 people living with HIV/AIDS in their homes, where they provide everything from nutritional supplements and treatment of small infections to advice to relatives on caring for them safely. When a patient becomes very ill, the project pays for them to travel to the district hospital to receive specialised care. AMREF has also trained several nurses and clinical officers to provide home-based care in their own villages. 
The project has also established several village steering committees, through which the widows' groups meet and discuss their problems with local leaders and government extension workers. AMREF has developed strong partnerships with the Department of Social Services, which helps to register the groups, the Ministry of Education, which is developing policies to subsidise orphans' education, and the Ministry of Health, which sends a weekly outreach team to the villages to conduct HIV testing and counselling. 

"There are so many people here who have received different types of support from AMREF," says Margaret. "With our children's school fees and uniforms taken care of, most of us widows have less on our minds to worry about. With the income we generate from our activities, we're able to buy good nutritious food that is keeping us healthy and strong."