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Voices of 3 Africans in the Time of AIDS

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Kennedy Omutoko is 12 years old. During the day, he attends free school for AIDS orphans at the Kibera Community Self Help Program. At night he lives with his grandfather. His voice is so soft he can barely be heard. His shoes are too big by twice.

“I am the second-born. Brothers, I have three. Sisters, two. Once I remember we were playing and my mother was sick.

“Another girl came and told me my mother had died. I thought it was a lie. I wanted to beat that girl. So I went home. It was true. They said my mother had gone to the mortuary.

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“When my father came home--he was a watchman--that’s what I told him. That my mother had gone to a mortuary.

“My father died the next year.”

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