THE PROJECT

MISSION STATEMENT

Wenzi kwa Afya invests in the nursing and health science education of outstanding young women from rural Western Kenya. Designed for the 21st century, our model focuses on long term mutual benefit, linking a U.S. community college and a girls’ high school in Kenya, and on supporting community transformation through professional development of the rising generation.

THE NEED IN KENYA

Samia District lies on the shores of Lake Victoria approximately three hundred miles west of the national capital, Nairobi. It is a rural area reliant on farming and fishing, both of which have declined as dependable economic resources in the decades since independence.

Samia has been also very hard hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has afflicted a population in which malaria and other infectious diseases were already widespread, further straining the very few health care facilities in the region. While much has been done through a variety of Kenyan and international aid efforts to address these problems, there is a clear need and opportunity for further support rooted in the community but drawing on external resources. Ideally such projects should incorporate a route to local self-sufficiency. This is the model Wenzi kwa Afya offers.

WHY FOCUS ON YOUNG WOMEN?

“When outside support starts with the daughters, it helps the family become whole.”

In much of the developing world, when a family has to choose, it funds the education of its sons. A short-circuited education deprives girls of the opportunity to flourish and to make full use of their intelligence, skills, and dedication.

Without full access to education, these young women are limited in their potential to contribute meaningfully to the future of their community and nation. Their own independence is also severely compromised. They become vulnerable to early, undesired marriage and to sexual exploitation in an AIDs-ravaged part of the world. When outside support starts with the daughters, it helps the family become whole.