Oboma** who works as a mason at a construction site in Mandera town narrates his story of how he lost his job because of his HIV status and was reinstated through the support of   a paralegal affiliated to a PLHIV network. He narrates that one day when he was at work, he happened to misplace his CCC card as he was changing his clothes to work gears, and in the process of searching for it, his colleagues together with the foreman found out that he was HIV positive. They started to discriminating him to the point of not sharing work related tools. The situation became worse when the foreman decided to terminate his services simply because he could not bear working with someone who is HIV positive.

“I gave up and I wanted to leave Mandera because of the harrowing experience at the hand of the colleagues and foreman, I raised bus fare just to travel back to Siaya County “I heard of Asnath a community paralegal who undertakes and follows up human rights violations against PLHIVs and that’s how I decided to look for her number and give her a call for support”, says Oboma

When the paralegal received the violation report, she took a bold step, asked for the number of the construction site foreman, gave him a call and secured an appointment after introducing herself.

During her visit, she decided to have a candid conversation with the foreman concerning the human rights violations against the PLHIVs and the implications that comes with it. She was then given another date to visit the construction site and talk to the labourers. She took this opportunity and used it creating awareness on HIV, shared on ways of transmission and prevention, talked about stigma and discrimination.

The paralegal had this to say “I thought it was wise to first approach the issue in this manner before taking the legal way, this is because, from what was shared by my client, Mr. Oboma, it was clear that the foreman and the colleagues had very little knowledge on HIV and instead believed in myths’’

After those fruitful sessions with the paralegal, Obama was reinstated to his casual job with the rest of the team getting equipped with information on HIV, stigma and discrimination.

As a closure, Obama commented, “I am thankful to the paralegal and PLHIV network for the assistance I got from them otherwise I could have gone back home where there were no opportunities, as I came to Mandera to look for greener pastures and I found one that has been supporting me and my family, back at my rural home things are different