"The worst part is the stigma from the fellow teachers. For them we are 'past tense,' or 'walking corpses,'" explains Margaret Wambete. A Kenyan teacher who, with her colleagues Elsa Ouka and Lucy Cheshire, participated in the Virtual Leadership Development Program (VLDP) in 2004. At the time, they were members of the Kenya Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV/AIDS (KENERELA), working at the grass roots level to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS one person at a time to combat the stigma that so hinders HIV/AIDS outreach efforts.

The Virtual Leadership Development Program (VLDP) works to help strengthen health managers and their teams to address real organizational challenges. Soon after completing the VLDP, Margaret, Elsa, and Lucy left KENERELA to establish a new network, KENEPOTE, the Kenya Network of HIV Positive Teachers.They felt that although KENERELA was a strong network with an important mission, it’s operational philosophy and internal administration was not perfectly aligned with how Margaret, Elsa, and Lucy wished to go forward. "After the VLDP," Margaret explains, "we looked around to see where we could play a leadership role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. After scanning the situation, we focused on the plight of teachers, and that was how KENEPOTE was born." In less than two years, KENEPOTE has attracted 1,500 members, under the leadership of Margaret as national chairperson, Elsa as national co-coordinator, and Lucy as consultant.

KENEPOTE's mission is to decrease the stigma that has literally killed HIV-positive teachers by depriving them or their livelihood, the support from colleagues, and kept them out of the clinics where they could have obtained lifesaving drugs. "You see," explains Margaret, "[HIV-positive] teachers suffer from triple stigma: from the pupils, from their fellow teachers, and from the parents. When teachers whose HIV status was known would come into the classroom, the pupils would greet with 'good morning Madame HIV.' Many pupils would refuse to give their notebooks with home work assignments to be corrected by these teachers, for fear that they would contaminate their notebooks. Their fellow teachers weren't any better. They refused to take tea with their HIV-positive colleagues, again out of fear. And finally, the parents would advocate for sacking or transferring HIV-positive teachers, withdrawing their children from classes that were taught by HIV-positive teachers."

Given all these repercussions for making one’s status known, it is no wonder teachers were reluctant to get tested. The risks and consequences of being stigmatized were too big. As a result of this, Margaret believes, many teachers did forego the treatment that would have been available and, worse, may have continued to infect others.

The challenge for the KENEPOTE leadership was clear: reduce stigma in schools so teachers would get themselves tested, receive treatment if possible, and, having become aware of their status, avoid transmitting the virus to others. The network membership grew quickly, testimony to the teachers' plight, from the two founding members to 1,500, representing primary, secondary, and higher education, including 27 lecturers.

The network has been active and successful. The teachers who are joining are 'coming out,' feeling more secure as stigmatization in many schools is diminishing. The network members have approached their employer: the Teachers Service Commission. When Margaret and her fellow network members told the Secretary of the commission about the challenges HIV-positive teachers face in schools, he was shocked. Action was taken swiftly: fired teachers were reinstated and intense education efforts started. Many teachers who did not know their status have since gone to be tested and receive treatment. HIV-positive teachers are now being transferred to a conducive environment to access care, support, and ART treatment for those who need it.