Support Activities in Poverty Eradication and Health

SAIPEH is an organisation that Richard came into contact with during his time in Kenya.  It is a small community initiative set up and ran by Justin Mutobera.  Justin comes from a community called Manyasa which—like many others in this area of Kenya—has a large proportion of its families deeply affected by HIV/AIDS.

This grassroots organization runs creative AIDS awareness programmes in informal settings.  For example, they have a well-established drama group that performs sketches, songs, and skits at local villages and markets in local dialects to communicate the message about AIDS in an accessible manner.  SAIPEH also run a peer educator programme, in which members of the community such as taxi drivers, inform others about AIDS.

After Richard received some funding from England, he asked Justin for a proposal about the best way to utilise some of it.  SAIPEH came up with an orphan sponsorship programme which differed from the one proposed for Ematundu.  As with the childrens home, community placement needs to be done in a manner that is self-sustaining rather than an endless series of donations.  Justin identified 13 orphans who had lost both parents to HIV.  Unlike those housed at the childrens home at Ematundu, these orphans had extended family who needed support to take them in.  As each family has many children of its own and already lives below the poverty line, adopting extended family puts a strain on their already limited resources.  Sponsorship for these children is to ensure that they access schooling, rather than just collect water and help towards the upkeep of the household.

Income Generating Activities

In the pilot project, 13 guardians were each given an initial loan of just £10.00 to start an Income Generating Activity (IGA).  Projects included starting a chicken-rearing project with income coming from eggs and eventually, chickens; and small businesses within the community selling everyday essentials like soap, flour, sugar, and paraffin.  In addition to providing the guardian with an income, the businesses had benefits that spilled over to the broader community in Manyasa.  Instead of each family making the 15km trip to the nearest stores in Mumias and buying items at retail cost, the stall-owner would buy in bulk and sell them in the local community of Manyasa.  The community members saved both time and money not having to make trips, and money is cycling around the community.

Justin set up a repayment system for these guardians to pay back the initial loan and also set up a savings system where they would put aside some of their profit each week for saving and reinvestment into the individual projects.  After a period of about 6 months, nearly every IGA had not only paid off the original loan but had also managed to save some funds.  In an area where people tend to live “hand to mouth”, introducing the concepts of saving for the future or spending money in order to be able to accumulate more has been an enormous achievement.  Guardians were quick to recognise the benefits of saving and investment and were given an extra boost of approximately £5.00 each to expand their projects.

Loaning—rather that giving—the money gives families ownership of their businesses and a determination to succeed

Expansion of income-generating activitities (IGA) project to include the donation of animals to guardians to boost their earnings and to provide partial subsistence, has evolved into the GIVE A GIFT PROGRAM.

The history of SAIPEH

Justin set up SAIPEH to start a small acting group who in their own time started to travel round their local communities to deliver educational entertainment to spread the message of HIV/AIDS and dispel the many myths about how HIV infects and spreads.  This was all delivered in the mother tongues of the area, i.e. the tribal language.  In doing this they achieved a wider and more effective spread of the message of HIV in communities who would not normally openly discuss this disease.  In this they achieve more than any number of other charities or NGO’s can possibly achieve as they deliver complex messages in English or Kiswahili, neither of which is understood by local village people.

Justin had been a bright pupil at school and through the dedication and support of his extended family, was one of the few members of his community who managed to continue his education right through to University.  After achieving his degree, Justine could have looked forward to a good job and better earnings to support his family had he stayed in Nairobi, however he was continually affected by the deaths and illness in his community and returned home to Manyasa. 

Justin had very firm and advanced ideas about how this group could expand into schools etc to try and reduce infection rates and also help to bring this disease out into the open.  This in turn helps people feel less vulnerable and more willing to actually be tested.  Once they know their result is positive, they can be further educated in living safely with HIV.  The most impressive example of this is their current chairperson of the committee.  Following the death of the previous chairman, they appointed a lady who to date has lived positively with HIV for approximately 15 years after having been infected by her husband.

Donating to SAIPEH

If you would like to make a donation to SAIPEH or to the Akhonya Trust in general, please click below to be taken to the donations page.