140+ Orphans Educated
Our Initiatives
The future of Rusinga lies in its children.
There comes a time when standing on the sidelines with a broken heart is no longer acceptable – when hope cannot remain a wish for the future, but must be a gift for today. On AIDS-ravaged Rusinga Island, that time is now. Help us break the cycle of poverty by providing education, clean water, sanitation, and financial empowerment to Western Kenya's rural poor.
500+ Patients Treated
32 Beaches & Villages Cleaned
Sustainable, local solutions for education, health, and sanitation.
In collaboration with CAITHS and local community members, Friends of KMMA seeks to break the cycle of poverty on Rusinga Island. By supplying funds and supplies, we are educating and feeding the youth, offering necessary and otherwise unavailable health services, and paving a path for a strong, healthy, and sustainable future.
Current Projects
Kathy & Mike McNulty Academy
Our flagship program, KMMA educates orphaned children who could not otherwise afford public school. Students are provided with a strong, basic education, plus two meals daily, medical care, and a Christ-oriented curriculum.
St. Patrick Clinic
Donations to the St. Patrick Clinic support the high costs of providing free care and medication to KMMA students, and help subsidize services and medicines for the greater community.
Clean Water in Every House
Donations to the WASH (Water and Sanitation Hygiene) Program help supply every household with potable water cans and purification tablets, and provide basic education on water usage, hygiene, and waste disposal.
Planting Trees to Renew the Soil
Donations toward Greening Rusinga Island provide new seedlings that are planted and maintained to create a stable landscape, where stands of trees provide long-term benefit to the soil and community.
Empowering Women in Business
This burgeoning program introduces women to healthy and sustainable income-generating activities. Funds provide basic skills training and will eventually support micro-loans for new businesses.
Sanitation & Waste Management
The Sweep Clean program targets local fishing villages and households to remove multiple disease vectors. In addition to physically cleaning public spaces, community trash bins for waste management and sanitary pit latrines need to be constructed.
Health & Hygiene Education
An ongoing difficulty in combating disease is the lack of local knowledge about basic health, hygiene, and disease. Donations support educational programs at local schools and the purchase of sanitary supplies for adolescent girls.
Food Program for
Vulnerable Youth
For many Rusingan children, especially orphans, the only food they receive is at school. Donations to the Food Program enable us to provide families with additional food and supplies to help feed children over weekends and during holidays.
1,000 Trees Planted
Water in Every House
Additional funds will allow us to expand our aid to the people of Rusinga.
With continued support, we hope to provide the vision and reality of a solid and grounded future to the children of Rusinga Island. Friends of KMMA-CAITHS owns land on which we intend to build a permanent structure to house the Kathy & Mike McNulty Academy, St. Patrick Clinic, and eventually a community space for both the CAITHS organization and a trade school for women and young adults seeking opportunities to learn income-generating skills. Through continued education, planting of trees, and care for the land we hope to rehabilitate Rusinga Island as a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. By educating the youth, in academia, health and hygiene, and offering food supplies and medical assistance, we hope for a bright and healthy future for the citizens of Rusinga and an end to the devastating cycle of poverty.
“The deadly combination of HIV, poverty, and environmental decline is devastating the people of Rusinga. If we do not act to improve our community, Rusinga will soon be a desert with no one left to live here.”
-Samwel Odhiambo Owuor, Founder and Director of CAITHS
