Kenya Poverty Elimination Network-(KPEN) plans to work with 100 grandmother-headed households in Homa Bay County in Kenya to enable orphans living within these households to access basic education and vocational (life-skills) courses within one year. Grandmothers will continue to provide safe-havens for the orphaned children as KPEN works to support them to be in schools as the older orphans' access life-skills opportunities for their own survival and a future.
For over 30 years of HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kenya has left a trail of destitution across many households in Homa Bay County which was the hardest hit since 1984 when the first HIV case was reported in Kenya. Trails of deaths of young and energetic parents have left many children orphaned and under the care of old, weak and poor grandmothers. To many of these children, it is a lost future unless external support reaches them for education and life-skills training opportunities
KPEN will identify 100 very needy grandmothers who live with orphaned children and support the grandmothers to provide care to such orphans. Support will include provision of meals at homes, school fees and uniforms for primary school-going orphans. It will also include provision of training fees for the older orphans over 17 years to access vocational courses such as dressmaking, hairdressing & beauty, carpentry and motor vehicle mechanics.
These courses will enable these older orphans to be self-reliant and be of support to their old grandmothers. Support of dairy goats will provide opportunities for milk in the grandmother households and thus improve their health and wellbeing as much as improve incomes as some of the milk will be sold to the local community members. In the overall, the project will demonstrate that with structured support, grandmothers are able to bring up the young children under their care.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
