History

In the spring of 2003, First Presbyterian Church of Norfolk installed a simple “tree” and asked for donations that would help stop the transmission of AIDS from pregnant mothers to their babies with a simple pill and follow-up care. The Church quickly raised more $5,600 and the donations keep coming. As of January 1, 2012 more than $750,000.00 has been sent to fight the AIDS epidemic.

Started forty years ago by Roman Catholic nuns from Italy, Nazareth Hospital, near Nairobi, Kenya, is a basic, full-service hospital with 210 beds. Its mission is to provide medical care for the poor. Currently under the direction of Catholic sisters from south India, Nazareth Hospital employs 250 men and women, including eight doctors.

Under the direction of missionaries Drs. Richard and Judith Brown, Nazareth Hospital began to provide AIDS services in 2001.  In 2001, Drs. Richard and Judith Brown were introduced to Sister Dr. Alfonse, a gynecologist who was also the administrator of Nazareth Hospital. The Browns offered to help start an AIDS clinic and Sister Dr. Alfonse agreed to provide housing for Richard and Judith on the Hospital grounds. For six months, Dr. Brown provided treatment to people with AIDS who had been patients at Nazareth Hospital, inviting them to come back to the Hospital for treatment with antiretroviral medicine, which was funded through various sources. What began as a half-day-a-week service slowly grew until the Hospital provided Dr. Brown a separate room for his services. A year later, the Holy Family Centre, a stand-alone HIV/AIDS clinic on the grounds of Nazareth Hospital, was constructed.

Two years later, First Presbyterian Church of Norfolk, Virginia became intimately involved in the Browns’ work in Kenya and helped expand opportunities at Nazareth Hospital and the Holy Family Centre.