Volunteer Kenya - Programs

 
HIV/AIDS Education has been our main area of focus since 1998. Over 300,000 Kenyans have been sensitized about the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. In the past two years the number of international volunteers working in Kenya has grown dramatically and as a result we now reach over 75,000 rural Kenyans each year. In April of 2003, an intensive HIV/AIDS peer training program, EMPOWER, was launched. In the first 18 months of this “training of trainers” program, over 1,000 Kenyans were trained to teach about HIV/AIDS and serve as resources for their peers.

Through our Healthcare Program, we operate the Bill Selke Memorial Clinic (which is located in the rural village of Kabula ) and mobile clinic services. Our mobile clinic program is done on a rotating basis through very rural village centers, churches, and homes in the Western Province . The program is most active during the summer months (May-August) when more overseas medical students are on the ground. During these periods we treat anywhere from 20 to 250 patients a day that likely otherwise would have no access to quality healthcare.

Through our Education Program, we run a Primary school that has a pre-school class and Grades 1 through 8. The school, Epico Jahns Academy , currently has over 400 students enrolled and is run by a staff of local Kenyan teachers and overseas volunteers. We accept not only experienced teachers but also international volunteers who have an interest in teaching the local children. The school has consistently received the highest marks in the area in terms of the quality of education and student development. The school also provides lunch to the students, which for many is the only guaranteed meal each day. Volunteers in the Education Program take an active role in not only teaching at the school, but have recently been active laborers in helping to build the additional classrooms (through funds they raised before their trip). We also offer support for our most poverty-stricken students through our “Sponsor a Child’s Education” program.

Recognizing that Kenyan women in rural areas often lack access to capital and the ability to generate income, we assist rural women’s “Self-Help” groups start small-scale income-generating activities through our Microenterprise Development Program. Since 2001, we have provided start-up technology, capital, and other resources to over 80 women’s groups to help them initiate income-generating projects such as sewing and tailoring shops, bee-keeping projects, horticulture projects, and fisheries. We have also built a network of over 100 rural microenterprise groups to whom we provide project advice and guidance, as well as assist in facilitating knowledge and resource sharing between the groups.

During June of 2001, we constructed and opened the first Public Library in Western Kenya . The library is filled with book donations from universities and libraries in the US and is open seven days a week for the local community.