• Q: How many secondary school scholarships does Slum Doctor Programme provide?
• A: We are providing 54 students with scholarships to Ombogo Girls' Academy in Homa Bay, one of the areas hardest hit by HIV/AIDS in Kenya.

"I am so excited about the BSLA program How incredible to think that for only about $300, you can provide an AIDS widow with seeds, fertilizer, training from an agricultural extension worker, drying cribs and access to markets for 18 months!"
-SDP Supporter, Bellingham, WA

In 2006, Slum Doctor Programme partnered with the Rotary of Nairobi and the Anglican Church to provide a loving, healthy, safe and stimulating environment for orphaned children in Cura Village just outside of Nairobi. Rotary provided the initial support to build the orphanage and Slum Doctor Programme provided support for the first 20 orphans to make a new home. We have continued our support as the home continues to grow and increase its capacity to house and nurture the community's ever increasing number of children growing up without parents.

Along with our continued financial support, we have been working with Cura Homes' board of directors to improve financial reporting and accounting procedures. 

Evelyn Mungai one of Cura Home's directors recently sent us an update on how things are going.  Please read on. 

Children orphaned by AIDS generally have a rough time in life. Neglected and undernourished, their health suffers and they are more likely to perform poorly at school. We know. A few years ago we took in our first group of twenty boys and girls at the Cura Home for AIDS orphans and that’s exactly what we found. The children who came from Cura and from far beyond were quiet and restrained for their ages (3 – 10) when they arrived, lacking the normal boisterous playfulness of youth.

That was then. Over time, we have built up the numbers to fifty and what a dramatic difference we have seen in all of them! Each time we are with the children we see how their confidence has risen further. They are healthy and well fed; their play is full of fun and adventure; and most reassuringly they are all doing so well at school – some at pre-school and others at the primary level. Actually, “doing well” is an understatement: there’s hardly one that isn’t in the top ten of their class.

The children are wonderfully looked after by manager Moses Machara and his team of house mothers, and we see a bright future for them. Of course, the challenge of funding is always there, as month after month the overheads must be met. We have been very fortunate though, thanks to the extraordinary support provided by partners such as the Slum Doctor Programme.

In the next two years, some of the older children will be eligible for secondary school, and given how well they are doing in their present classes, we are determined to see that they have the opportunity to continue developing themselves through further study. However, there is no high school in Cura, and so we are about to set-up a special fund to cater for this emerging need.

On the sustainability side, a kitchen garden has been started by the staff and children, providing them with nutritious vegetables. We are now looking at buying a cow or two and some chickens, to further reduce the outlay for food. Meanwhile we keep working hard to ensure our fifty little ones keep getting the best possible care in the happiest possible atmosphere. It gives us enormous joy and satisfaction, and we want all those involved with the Slum Doctor Programme and all who support it to share in the pride and the joy.