NAIROBI, Nov 30 (AFP) - Day in and day out, men, women and children stand up inside God's Power Centre, a ramshackle hovel in Ruaraka, northern Nairobi, to tell of their HIV-positive status, or how they or a relative are sick with AIDS.
One after the other, they are briefly questioned by "Presiding Bishop" Reverend John K. Nduati, who, as often as not, waves his hand and proclaims them healed.
Just like that.
On the back wall of the church, which is really little more than a large corrigated-iron shed in the Kenyan capital, are emblazoned the words: "Believe!! God can stop death!"
"How many of you are HIV positive today?" Nduati, dressed in a sharply creased grey suit, his head fashionably shaved, a flash of gold on his wrist and a finger, asked Friday's gathering of about 300.
About a dozen people stood up.
The crowd was excited, having been warmed up for a couple of hours by one of the bishop's associates.
Across Kenya, some 2.2 million people are infected with the virus that leads to AIDS.
Few in this country can afford, antiretroviral drugs used to delay the onset of full-blown AIDS, even though they cost less than five dollars a day.
"Why are you here? Where did you come from?" asked the preacher.
"My wife is in hospital suffering with AIDS. She cannot even talk. Now I believe God will save her. I came here today believing she would be healed," said one of the men among the dozen.
"I am here because I have AIDS and I came to be healed," said another.
"How did you get it?" barked the preacher. "Was it sent to you like anthrax in an envelope?"
"No," replied the man. "I have slept with women in Nyeri, Naivasha and Thika." he said.
"Today you are healed," Nduati told one of the dozen, to the delighted cheers of the congregation.
But the preacher, who has a good grasp of showmanship and how to work a crowd, berated another man who admitted remarrying after his first wife died of AIDS even though he knew he was also carrying the HIV virus.
"My second wife doesn't know, she is at home with the children. I did not want her to know I was coming here," said the man, looking ashamed.
"These people are ignorant," shouted Nduate. "And ignorance is no excuse. Go home and bring back all your family if you want to be healed."
Nduati spoke to AFP a little earlier in his cramped office adjacent to the main church.
He had to shout a little over the noise of his warm-up man and the banging sounds of construction.
The healing business must be good because over the very roof of the shack, a new, much bigger church is being built, in steel, brick and glass.
"Most of the things are just given," Nduati said when asked who was paying for the new building.
"The people are giving freely... We accept any kind of donation... I survive through church burden bearers. People who take the burden of my house" for example, he said.
Asked about his relationship with the medical establishment he said: "The doctors used to fight me, but now they send me patients."
What next?
"I hope to take this thing internationally. I already have branches in South Africa and Swaziland, now I am heading for the United States."
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