Community | Programs | Our history | Support | Latest | Contacts

E-mail us | Home 

The community served by this organization is located at the North Coast region of Kenya. This area is predominately Muslim. The region is populated with youth who have dropped of school and are very idealistic. To occupy their time they indulge in various anti-social activities. These activities include drug abuse, theft and unprotected sex. These activities put these youth at a very high risk of being infected with HIV.

When a youth is using drugs he is incapable of making responsible choices. As a result he puts himself at risk for HIV through unprotected sex. There are cases where the drug users don’t have the money to buy drugs so they either steal or exchange sexual favors for their drugs. This is a large problem in this region because most of the young people are unemployed and depend on their parents.

Casual relations between the young and old are very much the practice in this region. Girls look for older men who can buy gifts and give them money. Young boys look for older women who can do the same or even go to the extent of renting them a house. All this is done in exchange for sexual favors. The youth in these kinds of relations also have young partners. If one gets infected with an STI he ends up passing it over to the younger partner. It becomes a vicious cycle.

There are many tourists in the coastal region and the youths allow themselves to have unprotected sex with tourists in exchange for a better life. Many youths from this region have therefore turned to become beach boys who go to the beach in search of tourists.

Young girls drop out of school because of being cheated by drivers and conductors of “matatus”. This is a local means of transport in the area. The young girls are lured by the music being played inside and the conductors letting them have free rides. This makes the girls think they are special and before they realize it they start having sex. This often leads to infection with an STI, HIV or becoming pregnant.

Kwacha Afrika Troupe members belong to this community but after having seen what was happening to their fellow youth decided to try to make a difference in their community. They have achieved despite the difficult constraints they are facing. They believe they can do better if they are able to get support from different people.