Busia Sunset

Rural villages in Kenya have the highest needs, but because of their remote locations, they have the least services. Extreme poverty, high HIV/AIDS prevalence, poor education, lack of access to clean water, insufficient health facilities, lack of infrastructure, lack of technology and old culture are some of the pressing problems that rural villages in Kenya have been facing for hundreds of years.

As a result, they are hated and despised by everyone including those who live there. Because of this there is poor or no development at all leading to high rural urban migration. Many people simply believe there are no opportunities upcountry and move to urban areas in search of social and economic activities.

In the city, their first way station is a slum—Kibera, Mathare, Kangemi and many others. Most of them look on them as a way station, a place to live temporarily until they find a job and move to a better place to live. Unfortunately, this rarely happens and the number of slums continues increasing. At the moment 70 percent of Nairobi's population currently lives in a slum. As the slums continue to grow, poverty in rural areas continues to increase as the brains which would have been used to grow these areas continue wasting away in slums. The elderly people left in rural areas cannot improve them as they are often uneducated and use traditional methods to sustain themselves.

Busia Sunset was started in 2011 with the aim of reversing rural urban migration and fighting extreme poverty in Hakati a remote village of 4000 people in Busia. The village has one of the highest poverty rates in the country of around 70 percent. Families have average of 10 children and make an average of only 14 dollars a month and because of erratic rainfall, poor farming methods and very high migration of the youth the situation cannot get any worse. Women and girls walk for 8 kilometres to access the nearest water source. A majority of the residents cannot afford to send their children to school and because of the high HIV rates a number of children have been orphaned or neglected. According to government statistics over 56% of young people born in the county migrate when they reach they reach 20- 30 years.

We offer a bold, innovative model for helping rural Kenyan communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. We believe that by fighting poverty at the village level through community-led development, rural Kenya can achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and escape from the poverty trap. By applying this scalable model to give them a hand up, not a hand out, people of this generation can get on the ladder of development and start climbing on their own.

Simple solutions like providing high-yield seeds, fertilizers, drinking wells, and education are effective in combating extreme poverty and nourishing communities into a new age of health and opportunity. Improved science and technology such as agroforestry, insecticide-treated malaria bed nets, antiretroviral drugs, the Internet, remote sensing, and geographic information systems enriches this progress. Through this we believe we will be able to turn around Hakati into a model village where everyone has got equal opportunity to move beyond just daily survival.

The activities of Busia Sunset are organized through a participatory program that brings together professional and non-professional volunteers (From Hakati, Nairobi and international volunteers), the youth, children, women and the community of Hakati village with a direct impact to the community.

102 women are in a micro-lending program that provides funding for their agricultural enterprises. The women save with the group's treasurer on a weekly basis. The money is consolidated to a micro lending account where the members are allowed to borrow a maximum of $11.7 at a service charge of 20% of the money borrowed. This charge was set by the members of the group. Money borrowed from the group is used by the members to start or expand their small business. The women also make jewelery to sustain themselves and a community school that offers free basic education to the most vulnerable and poorest children in the village. Their parents are also involved in the micro lending project to help raise their economic status.

To reduce high birth rates and HIV prevalence the youth are actively involved in HIV/AIDS education, sexual & reproductive health education. They are also involved in various community projects like entrepreneurial training, sports and volunteering in the community.

Future plans include engaging the community in modern agricultural methods like green houses, fish farming, growing cash crops and agribusiness. We also hope to construct our own school and a community centre for the youth and women where they can meet and engage in income generating activities. We also hope bring clean water to the village and possibly incorporate the adjoining villages into the project. The pride, strength and spirit of the people of Hakati inspire us and we are honored to work with them.