This book brings together various schools of thought into a masterpiece, the work in this book were done by various people in regard to explaining how HIV/AIDS is continuing to wreck havoc to myriad of Kenyans within this lakeshore region of Lake Victoria in Kenya. Aids is no doubt one of the worst catastrophes to hit the world in this decade. Up to date approximately 1.6 million Kenyans have lost their lives to this horrifying scourge and a majority of them have actually died at their prime age of between 18-45 years. This dreaded killer disease continues to maim millions of people everyday leaving behind a long trail of untold suffering which as a result render some as orphans, widows or widowers while others are left childless at the end.

Nevertheless, today the year is 2001 and in Karungu, located in the western part of Kenya, a new dawn, full of hope is arising for the orphans. A new home for the homeless and malnourished has been built; a home to forget the past life full of agony and trauma; a home to enjoy life in its fullness as if our parents were all alive. I have no phrase that can describe this magnificent welfare home for the orphans and hence; The St. Camillus Children Welfare Home, simply known as Dala Kiye. However, as statistics present it, the population of orphans is rising day after day and in fact if that trend will not be checked immediately then they will pose a major threat to the growth of our economy such that any efforts allocated toward helping them will only be like a drop of water in the ocean.

In Karungu alone, there are an estimated 2500 orphans falling under the age bracket of 2-18 years. Therefore constructing one or two orphanages to cater for them will be quite too less and thus it would be realistic if the society would come up with ideas on how to support these orphans back at their homes. That is to say, instead of housing every orphan in a particular home, they are instead provided with food, clothing, medical care and even basic education while still living at their respective guardian's homes. Thus this system is always referred to as home-based care program. Moreover, this system is so advantageous in that, in the long-run period it would self-check the surging number of orphans currently seeking refuge at this new home. Also, it would be of great importance to all of us to help in genuine identification of those destitute who deserve most any kind of assistance from such homes so that the real needy ones are not left out from the project. This is so because Dala Kiye, will not offer enough shelter to all orphans in this area and thus it would be upon us to select them indiscriminately.

Having identified a genuine orphan into the care of the home we should now focus our attention onto their inheritance from their parents. Since death is inevitable and always strikes a family when it is least expected, many are cases of people dying neither living an oral nor a written will to be relied on upon their demise. This makes most of the orphans to be susceptible to all sorts of harassment with respect to their parent's properties. And at the end they are snatched of everything that their parents owned, ranging from a mere cooking stick to a piece of land by the very people who should have otherwise protected them from such barbaric misdemeanor. The saddening part of the tale is that, these acts of robbing the poor orphans of their properties are not done secretly, but often in broad daylight even at the knowledge of the local provincial administrators including the chiefs and sub-chiefs. The perpetrators of such activities usually leave these children with absolutely nothing, nothing at all. Such activities are not only inhuman but also violate the rights of a child in whatever pretexts that the Luo traditional custom may defend them.

Thus, since such acts are so grounded in our society, it would be better if the local provincial authority spearheaded behavioral change within the people by advocating to them the following; to begin with, people need to be educated about the merits of writing a will before one's untimely death. It is only through writing of a will that would save these orphans from wrangling over their parent's properties. And secondly, once a child has lost either or both of his parents then whatever that was left for him should be registered with the concerned authorities. Perishable and non-durable assets should be sold out and whatever that is received from their sale should be banked into these orphans' account. Durable assets such as land or houses should be registered under their names so that they may be kept safely for future use. By doing this, it would be like investing into the future for these children and indeed, a stitch in time saves nine.

Another aspect which slaps me on the face is the issue of wife inheritance, "teero". We realize that once a woman has been declared a widow "chi liel", the Luo custom puts it that she must be inherited lest something evil befall her family. In whichever way this may be true, the whole idea of being inherited should be left entirely as a matter of choice. I do believe that no one should be coerced into a forceful relationship, furthermore, whenever one wants to inherit a woman into a sexual relationship which is always the case, then both of them should first of all know their HIV status. It is only through knowing of one's HIV status that would save further unsuspecting partners from acquiring HIV, the virus that causes Aids. Otherwise in the same token, a widow who has successfully been inherited should cease calling her children orphans, this is so because, by accepting to be inherited automatically makes the inheritor a father to her children.

Fellow readers, I hope that as you continue flipping through the pages of this book, you will be able to find various ideas which somehow, may not consider your approval. However, by reading them will enable you to know that even though we tend to see things from different perspectives, we are all the same as children of God and AIDS does not discriminate. Therefore, in that case let us uphold together our diversified views about this pandemic, but when we are struck by terror like it, then let us fight it together as one family with love and care.