NGO builds village for AIDS orphans

The Kenyan Children of God Relief Institute (COGRI) is building a model settlement in the country’s eastern province where orphans affected by AIDS, as well as elderly people, can live together in a communal family environment. "Stigma, discrimination and ignorance of HIV/AIDS are still big issues nationwide," Protus Lumiti, one of COGRI’s managers, told IRIN at the centre recently. COGRI aimed to address these issues by giving the orphans a safe home together, as well as creating an environmentally friendly living space from which the entire community could generate income. The settlement, called Nyumbani Village, was being built in Mikuyuni, Kitui district, a semi-arid farming area, 130 km east of Nairobi. It was expected to house 160 ‘families’ formed by 1,120 children and 200 elderly grandparents, and be fully operational by the end of 2006. The first group of about 350 people were to move into Nyumbani by the end of April. "We are trying to pull in the local community and reintegrate orphans into society as much as we can," Lumiti said, explaining that all the building materials for Nyumbani had been manufactured by people in Kitui. A community centre, nursery and primary schools, staff housing, recreational parks, games fields and a health-monitoring unit were also planned as part of the development. "COGRI aims to create employment, transfer skills and instill a feeling of achievement," Anthony Kiragu, the project director, said. Nyumbani families would generate their own income through organic farming, cropping and agro-forestry, he added.