Introduction
KENOWA CHILDREN HOME has been in existence since May 2001 and is registered with the Ministry of Culture and Social Services in Kenya. It’s mission, vision, and goals are:
MISSION: To work with the under-privileged and disadvantaged children, especially girls, infected and affected by HIV/AIDS so as to improve their quality of life through sustainable development.
VISION: A community where all children enjoy quality life without discrimination or stigma regardless of their health status, social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.
GOAL: Mitigate HIV/AIDS through education and psychosocial support as well as mobilizing community response and responsibility.
The particular choice of housing the girl child only at the center was because there are several existing orphanages in Mombasa for boys. It is however evident that the orphaned girl child is more vulnerable to dropping out of school to take care of a sick parent(s) and the younger siblings; become a child sex worker and getting married off early. The girl child is also exposed to a lot of domestic work in the home, which inhibits her performance in school and retards her health as compared to that of her male sibling.
KENOWA currently is home to 14 girls who are affected by the AIDS pandemic, although none of the children are infected. The girls are housed, clothed, and fed at KENOWA CHILDREN CENTER and they also attend primary and secondary school outside the Center. Thirteen (13) of the children attend public schools.
KENOWA also supports seven (7) other children who are not residents at the Center, but are living elsewhere with guardians. The support is mainly through the provision of clothing, education, and medical care including counseling.
KENOWA has a plan, in conjunction with its sponsors, to create suitable accommodation for 100 girls, build and clinic, and a primary school that will cater for the needs of the Home and the local community, by December 2010.
