Ombogo Girls' Academy
Africa has the world’s highest adolescent birthrates and the lowest number of girls enrolled in primary school. AIDS is removing even more choices for girls, and orphan girls are especially marginalized and are more likely to engage in risky behavior in order to survive. In addition, the Ombogo Girls’ Academy is located in the Rangwe district of Kenya, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the country as well as one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS. By providing education to this vulnerable population, we hope to offer a future with choices that may not have been possible otherwise.
Three years ago, 15 orphaned girls began a journey on a path they never thought possible, a path to completing a high school education. Today there are 54 Ombogo Girls’ Academy students receiving scholarships in Homa Bay, Kenya through the commitment of area residents and the Slum Doctor Programme.
Slum Doctor Programme believes women, especially young women, are going to be the ones who turn the AIDS epidemic around. Nearly 60% of those infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. We also know that any girl in Sub-Saharan Africa who enrolls in high school is up to five times less likely to contract HIV. That is why we believe that each young girl educated is a stone in a pond whose ripples will continue on, or in the words of Brendah Aoko, an Ombogo Girls’ Academy graduate, “educate a girl, educate the whole family, educate the whole nation, educate the whole of humankind.”
Slum Doctor Programme believes women, especially young women, are going to be the ones who turn the AIDS epidemic around. Nearly 60% of those infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. We also know that any girl in Sub-Saharan Africa who enrolls in high school is up to five times less likely to contract HIV. That is why we believe that each young girl educated is a stone in a pond whose ripples will continue on, or in the words of Brendah Aoko, an Ombogo Girls’ Academy graduate, “educate a girl, educate the whole family, educate the whole nation, educate the whole of humankind.”
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