Jim Adede (KIPE) – Possible Projects

Another brief report:  I met with Jim Adede today.  Jim is the Project Coordinator for KIPE (Kisumu Initiative for Positive Empowerment).  KIPE consists of about 200 core members plus another 600 casual members, most of whom are living with HIV/AIDS.  KIPE started under the name of YES Club back in 2002 as a post-test club to provide counseling and support for those who tested positive at our circumcision project, but it is open to HIV negative people as well.  Since it has been operating for nearly 6 years, many of the members are now on ARVs or in need of getting on treatment.  Most members are unemployed and very poor.  Many do not have the means to maintain proper nutrition and this is especially a problem for those on treatment, since taking the medication on an empty stomach causes nausea and reduces the effectiveness of the drugs. 

All the members have been adversely affected by the recent violence.  Those who had some small employment have lost their jobs.  Some have had their houses burned.  All are facing increased costs of food and other essentials. 

Jim and I discussed how HEAL might address some of KIPE’s needs.  He prioritized a list of possible projects.  The list with estimated costs is as follows:

1. Meals provided twice per week at KIPE for one month.  The point of this is to not only provide some nutritious food for the members, but to bring them together after the violence (many have dispersed and have not come back to KIPE in many weeks) to have a series of meetings to discuss new initiatives and means of supporting one another.  Members would be asked to contribute 10 shillings (15 cents) per meal, and the members would cook the food themselves.  A meal would cost about 40 shillings (64 cents). Cost: about $1,000.
   
   
2. Funds to those who lost their small businesses during the violence or those who want to start a small business.  This would be a grant of 1000 – 2000 shillings($15 – $30) to allow a person to buy sufficient stock to get going.  The kinds of businesses that could get (re)started are buying fish at the beaches and selling it in town, buying food to cook at workplaces and sell on a per meal basis, buying scissors and combs to start a streetside barber shop, buy a shoe shine kit to shine shoes on the street, buy some used clothes in bulk to sell by the piece, etc.  Cost: $1,000.  This could be a good fundraising activity: tell potential donors that they can revive someone’s livelihood for $30.
   
   
3. Chicken scheme.  Build a chicken coup at KIPE, buy 100 small chicks, raise them and sell them as broilers (six weeks from chick to the frying pan).  This would be a sustainable activity that would provide ongoing income for the members and could be expanded over time.  Cost: $1050.
   
   
4. Goat milk scheme.  Marisa is familiar with this.  Buy 5 small ewes and one billy goat, feed them, grow them, and milk them and sell the milk.  Would require building a shed, buying the goats and buying the feed  This would provide income for members and should be sustainable.  It looks economically viable.  Initial investment: about $4,000.

There are many other ideas, but those seem to be the most feasible and most attractive to the KIPE members.

Bob