We have adopted an African village in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Throughout the year, we plan on visiting this village many times with you, as well as some of your favorite bands! The overall objective of our time spent in Africa is to effectively make a positive and lasting difference to the villagers. We want to focus in the areas of AIDS prevention; early and sustained education; and educational methods for economic growth.

AIDS PREVENTION: In this village, along with most in Africa, you’ll find many of their issues deeply rooted in tradition handed down from generation to generation. This is definitely a huge problem when working with the people on the issue of AIDS. They feel that when someone dies of sickness it is because they have offended their ancestors and have therefore become the victim of “chira”. It’s a term you’ll hear used often in the village. The big problem here is that there is no personal accountability for their actions. Their thought process is that if the ancestors desire something to happen to one of their posterity than it happens regardless of their personal actions.

EDUCATION: Education is such an important part of the future success of the village. Education for the villagers is not only a matter of learning the basics of literacy, but it’s the key to overcoming poverty and changing the cycle of disease and death within their own families. The lack of education is directly related to the growth of the AIDS epidemic and the spread of other diseases.

ECONOMIC GROWTH: The potential for economic growth in this village is tremendous because of the climate, the amount of rain and the proximity to Lake Victoria. They have the ability to be a very wealthy people. We want to help them understand and better utilize the opportunities they have, so they can take advantage of the elements at their disposal. We have met with some native people who are working on furthering the economic growth of their village. We have come to realize that furthering the education of farming skills would be the best way to help them become a self sustaining people. This would also lay a foundation for reaching the needs of the people for future generations. Because of the magnitude of it’s potential, we have proposed setting up large harvesting areas on the school grounds and so they can start introducing farming into the school curriculum. When the students are 15 or 16 years old they will have a grasp on how to better help themselves and their families. In addition to that, it will allow the school to have a source of revenue by selling their crops to help pay for more teachers, meals for students and the basic necessities that they are currently lacking.