Brief History of St. Joseph Centre
St. Joseph centre was founded in June 2009 with main intention of helping orphans and vulnerable
children achieve their full life in poor setting in Kibera Slum. This came as a result of ever
increasing number of children dropping out of schools as a result of lack of school fees by the parents,
lack of food, spread of such infectious diseases as HIV/AIDS that has increased the number of
children without one or both parents in the area. The purpose of the project is to try and reduce the number
of children dropping out of school as a result of the above mentioned conditions. The project is doing these
through education support for children, child counseling services and social support to improve the quality
of life of the children.
Information about St. Joseph Centre
Supports for Orphans and Vulnerable Children The project realized that the number of children attending schools around Kibera were orphans and vulnerable to a number of conditions in the slum. This was realized after a brief baseline survey that was done to assess the number of children affected by poor living standards in Kibera. The study indicated that most children living in Kibera slum were either, total orphans, half orphans with one parent and children living in poverty thus vulnerable to a number of conditions. The Study report led to the need to design a project to help address this need. St. Joseph was started to support the children in order to reduce the number of children dying as a result of such conditions such as those including of HIV/AIDS challenges. Most children have opted for early marriages, working in risky industries in order to earn a living to support their young siblings.
Project Mission To offer education, basic needs through love and hope to improve the quality of life for the less fortunate children around the centre.
Problem Statement
AIDS is a devastating illness that affects not only the lives of infected individuals and their families, but also the economic and social well-being of society as a whole. According to UNAIDS 2008 report, 24.5 million people out of a total population of 774 million in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV/AIDS. This means that Sub-Saharan Africa is the mostly affected region and it represents almost 64% of the total number of HIV infections wild wide. The epidemic of the illness of AIDS has led to more than 20 million deaths over the past two decades. This has led to the number of orphans in the world today to be stunningly large, and growing. Although not all orphans around the world are as a result of AIDS, the proportion of children who have been orphaned by AIDS is increasing while the proportions who have been orphaned by other causes is decreasing. Sub- Saharan Africa has the greatest proportion of children who are orphans and the world’s largest concentration of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. In 2001, it is estimated that almost one in every eighty children across the continent was without one or both parents. 11 million of these children had been orphaned by AIDS. In Kenya there are 1.4 million AIDS orphans out of the national population of about 34 million. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of children losing one or both parents in Kenya has reached 1.6 million. Between 50% and 60% of these have lost their parents due to AIDS and an estimated 300,000 are double orphans. AIDS epidemic continues to advance in Kenya with most of the affected people living in rural areas and informal settlements. In Kibera alone HIV/AIDS prevalence stands at around 15% and death doubled in a span of a year. Increased loss of parents and or guardians due to AIDS increases the number of uncared children thus increased number of needy orphans.
AIDS is a devastating illness that affects not only the lives of infected individuals and their families, but also the economic and social well-being of society as a whole. According to UNAIDS 2008 report, 24.5 million people out of a total population of 774 million in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV/AIDS. This means that Sub-Saharan Africa is the mostly affected region and it represents almost 64% of the total number of HIV infections wild wide. The epidemic of the illness of AIDS has led to more than 20 million deaths over the past two decades. This has led to the number of orphans in the world today to be stunningly large, and growing. Although not all orphans around the world are as a result of AIDS, the proportion of children who have been orphaned by AIDS is increasing while the proportions who have been orphaned by other causes is decreasing. Sub- Saharan Africa has the greatest proportion of children who are orphans and the world’s largest concentration of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. In 2001, it is estimated that almost one in every eighty children across the continent was without one or both parents. 11 million of these children had been orphaned by AIDS. In Kenya there are 1.4 million AIDS orphans out of the national population of about 34 million. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of children losing one or both parents in Kenya has reached 1.6 million. Between 50% and 60% of these have lost their parents due to AIDS and an estimated 300,000 are double orphans. AIDS epidemic continues to advance in Kenya with most of the affected people living in rural areas and informal settlements. In Kibera alone HIV/AIDS prevalence stands at around 15% and death doubled in a span of a year. Increased loss of parents and or guardians due to AIDS increases the number of uncared children thus increased number of needy orphans.
