Recognizing that peer educator groups have a tendency to disband once a project ends or funding dries up, AMURT integrated income-generation activities into the mission of the Komango peer educator group as a pilot program to bolster their longevity. The group started small by selling sausages and porridge at youth-organized soccer tournaments, in addition to their normal responsibility of discussing HIV prevention with people attending the events. Read more
To contribute towards the care of an estimated 1.6 million fully or partially orphaned children in Kenya, AMURT has enlisted the help of local organizations, community members and businesses to care for 3,000 children age 5-14 living in Nyanza, Coast and Central provinces. From the moment they enter our program, children are assigned a community volunteer who lives in their vicinity to ensure they benefit from the many aspects of the program. Read more
Each of the nine centers across Kenya hosts soccer programs that attract talented young athletes. Practices and team meetings give our peer educators a chance to meet with teams in small groups sessions to talk about safe sex, distribute condoms, and discuss HIV and AIDS with players on an individual level. The eventual tournaments provide a venue for communication of these messages to the masses of people that come to watch (up to 4,000 enthusiastic spectators attend an urban game). Read more
An important facet of the program is the training and support of 135 peer educators who pass on knowledge to youth, and provide condoms to those who need them. In fact, many of the peer educators have become walking “condom dispensers” and sometimes receive a knock on their doors in the dead of night from friends seeking condom support! In addition, the peer educators visit primary schools and secondary to schools to deliver age-specific messages to children in an entertaining way. Read more
AMURT commenced several hygiene and sanitation program in 2001, with grants from UNICEF and the Swiss Development Corporation, building 1,400 pit latrines in three resettlement areas. Our surveys had shown that many people were unaware of the causes of diarrhea, so we also organized educational theater programs in all the beneficiary communities. Read more
The AMURT-sponsored school is in Wasswa village about 60 miles from Kampala. It was started in 1988. It was a simple project in the beginning, with twenty village children being taught under a tree! The first building was constructed in 1991, and now the school has 333 children from Nursery to Primary 7. Twenty-one children are boarders and eight children are orphans in our care. Read more