Mama Na Dada
(Joyce Oneko, Kenya)
HIV/AIDS
PREVENTION, CARE INTERVENTION AND EDUCATION AMONG GIRL-CHILDREN IN KUNYA-MATARA
VILLAGE AND ITS ENVIRONS
RAGENGNI SUB-LOCATION, UYOMA LOCATION BONDO DISTRICT, KENYA
Mama Na Dada Management Project (MADAM) was formed in 1995 by a group of six women, initially to assist adolescent girls who had dropped out of school due to their getting pregnant, lack of school fees or as a result of their being orphaned, to enable them to continue with their education. With the increase in the number of vulnerable young girls who require the services of MADAM, and due to the rapid spread of AIDS, lack of knowledge and the need to educate and create awareness amongst young girls, however, MADAM found it necessary to scale up its activities and to include HIV/ADS awareness creation, prevention and care intervention as a component of the project. The project is based in a small village on the shores of Lake Victoria, called Kunya-Matara, in Bondo District of Nyanza Province.
Mama Na Dada is a community-based initiative and it has now identified HIV/AIDS prevention, awareness creation and care intervention among young girls and women of the age group between 15 Ð 24 years as a determining factor in helping the community.
While Mama Na Dada appreciates the importance of addressing the needs of both boys and girls in the HIV/AIDS education and prevention, it has chosen to concentrate on the girls because of their vulnerability, especially the girls living in the rural areas. MADAM addresses not only the direct consequences of infection on the girls, but also the psychological suffering they face when they have to either care for their sick parents or when they are left with ready-made families to look after on the death of their parents. The project targets girls who grow up in the rural area because of their lack of basic essentials and the poverty within which they grow up. The girls in the rural areas, unlike their urban counterparts, have no access whatsoever to things like televisions, radios and newspapers, and because of this, they have no access to any form of sex education.
Mama Na Dada has integrated HIV/AIDS into its poverty alleviation and general health care programmes. The project appreciates that no meaningful education or awareness can be imparted to the girls if their living standards are not improved. Because of the poverty within which these girls grow up, they are sometimes forced to trade sex for basic essentials like food or soap. To alleviate hunger in the area, and to improve the lives of these young girls, the project encourages their mothers, and those girls who have dropped out of school and are not able to go back, to be involved in community revolving credit schemes and in existing community based organizations (CBOs) by boosting their savings in proportion to their contributions. There already exists CBOs in the form of women groups, which MADAM collaborates with, and where women are well organized and are able to contribute some funds towards a credit programme. MADAM promotes the development of community based revolving loan fund schemes. It is clear that if the poverty within which these girls grow up is not alleviated, education alone cannot achieve the desired goals.
Mama Na Dada seeks to preserve and protect the health of female children in the area of benefit by the provision of advice and education about the causes and prevention of infection by HIV or AIDS. It also seeks to provide or assist in the provision of facilities for education, training and/or leisure time activities for these female children.
The objectives of the project are as follows:-
1. Reduce the rate of pregnancy among the young girls
2. Educate the young girls on issues of sexuality generally, and specifically on sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS
3. Assist the girls who have dropped out of school to continue with their education, and those who are not able to go back to school to take up some form of vocational training.
4. Encourage community-based programmes and support groups.
The long-term objective of the project is, however, to create better understanding of and awareness on the dangers of HIV/AIDS, encourage preventive measures, alleviate poverty and improve living standards of the people of the community.
The project carries out its work through peer educators who are selected from the groups that have already been formed of the young girls. These peer educators are trained and employed by the project on a part-time basis. There are weekly meetings at which the girls participate and share their experiences. There is a Knitting and Tailoring Club that has been formed by the girls in conjunction with their teachers, where the girls make quilts and mats. The project collaborates with local teachers and church leaders, and invites professionals to give talks on technical issues such as how diseases are transmitted.
Once every month, there is a general education workshop where the girls and their mothers separately discuss the progress being made, and the problems they are facing, and suggested possible solutions are put forward. .