February 10, 2007

 

Dear Friends,

 

In the wake of recent street gang violence near Nairobi, I am writing to ask your prayers for Kenya and all Friends in Kenya, the Friends United Meeting (FUM) General Board, our Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) members and delegates attending the General Board Meeting in Kenya, and for the families and friends of all concerned. 

Although Friends attending the General Board Meeting are safe, undoubtedly their families will rest more easily when they return home safely.  John Smallwood (Langley Hill) and Rich Liversidge (Sandy Spring) planned to be there and it is likely that other BYM Friends are as well.  Please share this prayer request with your Monthly Meeting.

This violence resulted in the death, among others, of a Kenyan Friend, Dr. Job Bwayo, an internationally-regarded AIDS researcher, and serious injury to his wife Elizabeth Bwayo and Carol Briggs, a member of Northwest Yearly Meeting. 

Below is information about Job Bwayo, Carol Briggs, and Elizabeth Bwayo (very scant information about her is included in the article about Carol Briggs).

 

With appreciation for your prayers,

Lauri Perman

Presiding Clerk

Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the

Religious Society of Friends

 

From the Website of The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

 

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) mourns the tragic death of our friend and colleague, Professor Job Joab Bwayo, co-founder and director of the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI) in Nairobi, Kenya.  Prof. Bwayo, a passionate AIDS advocate, dedicated much of his distinguished career to developing an HIV vaccine for communities throughout the African continent. Killed in a senseless act of violence on Sunday evening, February 4, he was unwavering in his belief that Kenya had a significant contribution to make to the global effort to end the AIDS pandemic, and was instrumental in building a world class clinical research facility in the country.

Born in the Bungoma District, Prof. Bwayo was a frequent lecturer at the University of Nairobi and former chairman of the Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences. He also served as co-director of the Regional AIDS Training Network for STD/AIDS and as a senior member of the World Health Organization Collaborative Centre for STD/HIV Research Training. Prof. Bwayo's research interests included the epidemiology of sexually-transmitted diseases and HIV in men and women in Kenya, intervention studies to control and prevent STD/HIV infection, and immunobiology. He is the author of dozens of publications on public health issues and HIV/AIDS.

Edited for length.  Original article at:http://www.iavi.org/viewfile.cfm?fid=44117

 

 

 

 

Tigard woman shot in Kenya

Volunteer - Carol Briggs, 64, who went to Africa to help HIV orphans, is in serious condition

Thursday, February 08, 2007

KATE TAYLOR

Six months ago, Carol Briggs of Tigard gave away everything she had to go live in Kenya and work with HIV orphans there.

On Wednesday, she was in serious condition at a Nairobi hospital after roadside gangsters on Sunday stopped the car she was in and shot her in the mouth. They also killed internationally renowned AIDS researcher Job Bwayo, who -- along with his wife, Elizabeth Bwayo -- was traveling in the same car.

His killing, along with several other recent killings, has sparked national outrage over out-of-control crime in the country.

In Oregon, where the 64-year-old Briggs is known as a loving mother and grandmother and devoted volunteer, friends and family grieved the ugly turn in a beautiful dream.

"We are crushed," said Kenyan-born Grace Kuto, a Portland resident who is a close friend of Briggs' and sister to Elizabeth Bwayo. "We are praying for her. She is a wonderful person, the kind of person who shows up when you need help, like a miracle."

Briggs' two grown daughters, Jill and Traci Briggs, on Wednesday were badly shaken and scrambling to get passport paperwork finished to fly to Kenya.

"We were proud of her for going, because that was her passion and she was doing it. We were also scared," Jill Briggs of Beaverton said Wednesday. "It's very hard being here not sure what's going on."

After a recent retirement, Briggs left Oregon in November and began working at Friends Lugulu Hospital west of Nairobi, as well as at one of its satellite clinics, Kuto said.

Briggs and other members of the Tigard Community Friends Church have for years fueled the Chwele Health Clinic with volunteer time and funding.

At the time of the shooting, Briggs was on a break from her clinic work to help with a health-related conference in Nairobi, according to another friend, Jan Schmeltzer of St. Helens. She was staying in Nairobi with Bwayo and his wife, who were friends she met while they were visiting Portland, Kuto said.

Briggs and Elizabeth Bwayo -- who was also shot in the mouth by the teenaged gangsters -- have both already undergone reconstructive surgery, said Kuto, who has been speaking to their surgeon in Kenya. They are both fully conscious, she said. On Wednesday evening, Jill Briggs said she was especially worried because the doctor reported that her mother was having seizures.

At the Tigard Community Friends Church, friends were praying for a full recovery and mourning the loss of Bwayo, a key scientist in the fight against AIDS. He had at times consulted with Oregon Health & Science University doctors.

"This was a personal dream that she had had for some time," said Dan Cammack, co-pastor of the church. "She'd just been waiting to retire from her job (at Portland's Global Logistics) and go over there and volunteer. She loved working with children."

Kuto said she'd rarely met as dedicated a volunteer.

"When she told us she was going and started giving everything away, we thought she was nuts. Her family had some mixed feelings, too," said Kuto, who grew up in Chwele, where the satellite clinic is. It was, Kuto said, hard for Briggs to leave her children and grandchildren, "but she just cared so much about orphans. And I remember, she told me when she left, 'I'm going to go now and take care of your family, and you stay here and take care of mine.' "

Those who wish to donate to the Carol Briggs medical fund can send donations to the Tigard Community Friends Church, P.O. Box 230117, Tigard, OR, 97281, or make a donation in the name of Carol Briggs at any U.S. Bank.