Celebrities fight HIV through music and comedy

By George Orido

When he teamed up with his Kenyatta University colleagues, John Kiarie and Tony Njuguna to form Redykyulass, Walter Mong’are aka Nyambane was arguably the toast of Kenyan satire on television.

His success satirising the then President Daniel Moi propelled him to even greater heights and he thereafter joined Kenya’s leading radio presenter Caroline Mutoko at Kiss FM.

And now after a short stint at Q-FM, Nyambane is using comedy and music to persuade the youth to change their behaviour and test for HIV.

Nyambane’s ability to spin rib-cracking jokes endears him to young people.

Nyambane on stage. Photo: George Orido/Standard

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Taking advantage of this, he has combined forces with musician Linda Muthama of Tusker Project Fame One to speak with the youth. So far, they have toured Kayole, Kawangware, Kangemi, Dagoretti, Kaptembwa slums and institutions of higher learning.

Last week Nyambane and his team camped at Egerton University for three days, talking and mobilising students and staff who turned up in droves.

"We start from what the audience knows and wants," says Nyambane, who has perfected the art of spontaneity to spread messages of prevention, care and support.

The comedian and Linda then get into a stage performance with an interlude of question and answer sessions.

It is during this time that facts and myths on HIV/Aids are separated.

"We talk about sex as it is, because this is the only way to separate truth and perceptions," says Nyambane.

He says he works with the youth to "avoid a future where we might only have children and the aged with the youth long extinguished.

His thinking is in line with Vision 2030, which recognises vulnerability of the youth and aims to drastically reduce new infections, teenage pregnancies and drug abuse among the group.

During the drive, several students turned up at the VCT tents manned by Hope Worldwide and Liverpool Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres.

Linda has composed thematic songs on HIV/Aids addressing fidelity, abstinence, and orphans and those infected by the virus.

"I am trying to use my popularity to serve the country and specifically the youth and Nyambane makes a perfect "collabo"," says Linda who graduated with a first class honours degree in music, , from Kenyatta University.

Today, she is the project manager at Altimate Management.

"My passion to use talent to fight Aids did not start yesterday," says Nyambane, whose Big Breakfast show on Kiss FM captured the imagination of many listeners.

During the morning show, he and Mutoko discussed varied topics.

Talk show

"My most memorable discussion is when a young woman called in and said she disclosed to her husband, her sero-positive status after gaining courage from the talk show," he recalls.

Nyambane and Linda’s approach is in line with the Kenya National Aids Strategic Plan 2009/2013 that encourages community based HIV/Aids programmes.

At the Egerton event there was more than the stage performance at the Kilimo Hall.

The pair played pool and also had a drink with the students. They also visited a salon and barbershop together where Nyambane plaited a female student’s hair while Linda gave a male student a hair cut as they chatted.

Nyambane sponsored an impromptu pool tournament at the Junior Common Room where the winner was awarded a cash prize of Sh5,000, while the runners up took Sh3,000.

During the event Nyambane and Linda engaged students with talk on sex.

"We told them what their fathers, mothers or lecturers would never tell them because sex talk is by and large a taboo topic in the African set up," says Linda

Prof Jude Mathooko, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension, lauds the initiative.

"The visit by Nyambane and Linda as well as Hope Worldwide Kenya and Liverpool VCT has enhanced the university’s HIV/Aids programme and we hope other institutions will also work with them," he says.

Egerton University, with about 12,000 students and 658 employees, has been affected by the scourge and has several Aids support groups.

For a man whose face has appeared on many Aids posters and TV commercials, Nyambane becomes an easy sell to young people who remember him from popular campaigns such as Nimechill or Nyambane Ana Yake, Je una yako? and Chanuka Pamoja.

Aids programmes

As communicators say, the message is the medium; is it easy for programmes such as this supported by the Population Services International and Liverpool VCT to meet their aim for an Aids free society by using celebrities.

"We hope other empowered institutions dealing with HIV/Aids programmes will join us to strengthen and facilitate my team in getting more youth tested," says Nyambane.

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