Watumishi, a Marquette student organization with a mission to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic, found the complete opposite when representatives of the group visited Kenya this summer.,”With images of Africans stricken with AIDS constantly shown in the media as a hopeless case, many travelers would not be surprised if they found the same thing in real life.

Watumishi, a Marquette student organization with a mission to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic, found the complete opposite when representatives of the group visited Kenya this summer.

"The whole depths of despair that everyone sees here was far from our perspective when we were there," said Conor Sweeney, Watumishi co-founder and a College of Arts & Sciences senior. "There wasn't a point when we found the situation depressing."

Between May 24 and July 6, members of Watumishi visited the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Mombasa and the poverty-stricken, rural community of Voi.

A major goal of the trip was to form relationships with the Sisters of St. Joseph, who run a compound for members of the Voi community with AIDS, according to Aarti Bhatt, Watumishi chair and a College of Health Sciences junior.

The relationship between Marquette and the Sisters of St. Joseph began when Sister Genovefa Maashao wrote a letter to the former College of Nursing dean and current Provost Madeline Wake. Sister Maashao asked Wake how to serve members of the community with AIDS, according to Sweeney.

After the Wake letter, students from the College of Nursing visited Sister Maashao's compound. It was after that visit that Conor Sweeney, along with College of Nursing senior Tim Kummer, founded Watumishi.

When the Watumishi representatives arrived at the compound this summer, they were impressed with the work effort of the sisters.

"The sisters would wake up very early, and work sun-up to sundown," Bhatt said. "They would do selfless jobs throughout the day just to help those in the community that needed help."

The Watumishi representatives found that the hard work of the sisters spread to all of those around the compound.

"Almost everyone at the compound has suffered some kind of setback, but there was always a positive (vibe) among the people," said Caleen Kennedy, Watumishi member and a College of Communication senior.

Another goal of this summer's trip was to help build a library for the community with money from fundraisers at Marquette last school year. Watumishi has raised more than $10,000 for the library construction, according to Bhatt.

"The library gives people a reason to go and get tested for AIDS," said Katie Kelly, Watumishi member and a College of Arts & Sciences senior. "The schools in Voi also don't have enough money to money to purchase books."

The foundation for the library was laid after the members of the organization left Kenya this summer.

Watumishi also held the Words for the World book drive to collect donated books for the library. The campaign yielded "thousands" of books, according to Bhatt.

"So many books were donated to the campaign that there were too many to handle," she said.

The idea of constructing a library was conceived when members of Watumishi first went to Kenya in the summer of 2004.

"During our first trip, we went around the community to find something to read," Sweeney said. "We couldn't find anything and wondered what the educational resources were like for students. We found that there were very little resources."

Sweeney hopes that members of the community will use the library to find solutions to everyday problems.

Although the book drive is complete, Watumishi is still raising funds for the library and planning events for this school year.

"The organization is going to focus on the cultural aspect of AIDS and HIV this school year," Bhatt said.

Watumishi is planning to host guest speakers and hold service projects to bring light to the issues, Bhatt said.

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