What We Do, Where We Are.
‘VUMILIA’ is a growing Community Based Organization (CBO) in Kabras - a rural area of Western Kenya . We help hundreds of vulnerable women and girls, victims of poverty, AIDS, domestic violence and sex abuse, to turn their lives around and look forward to the future with strength and hope.
Why We Got Started.
The Swahili word Vumilia (prounouced: vumi-lee-ah) means to persist, or persevere when things are tough. That is what a small group of local women, all HIV-positive single mothers and widows, decided to do in 2004. The combined effect of poverty, social stigma, ostracism and loss was wearing them down fast, and they resolved to do something about it. When Florence Achakulwa approached Rose Ayuma, a qualified counselor, with the idea, they got started.
How We Grew.
The Vumilia Women’s Group, with 12 members at first, began with counseling to help them come to terms with the reality of their situation, and to recover their self-esteem and their resolve. And begin living positively again. Some got into small business. The group expanded. Their message - that AIDS is real, so let’s face it, understand it and respond practically - began to get around. In 2005 Rose set up a VCT (Voluntary Counseling & Testing Centre) in the village and in 2006 a refuge for girl children. In 2007, with assistance from ‘Riders for Health’ (www.riders.org) Vumilia set up a palliative care outreach program, now visiting 500 AIDS sufferers every month.
VUMILIA SERVES
In 2008, Vumilia is directly serving around 750 people. Our sex education and HIV awareness work reached an estimated 2,500 people.
- Through the Women’s Group Initiatives:
- 40 People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) – a strong support group
- 16 single grandmothers living alone with young grandchildren
- At the VCT
- Over 150 clients every month come for information, advice, and many for pre- and post-HIV-test counseling
- At the Children’s Home
- 28 orphans/vulnerable children. 20 girls (age 3-16) live at the Home. 8 additional children (boys/girls) are assisted through secondary education
- Through the Palliative Care Outreach Program
- Up to 500 PLWHA, generally bed-ridden or housebound, are visited every month. A team of 6 trained volunteer women (from the group) ride motorcycles from home to home, providing Home Based Care
- HIV Awareness and Sex Education
- A diverse team of 14 “peer educators” – a combination of Vumilia staff and community volunteers – spread life-changing information and counsel individuals in their demographic group
- Seven of these are community outreach volunteers who deliver more formal information sessions to large groups at schools, churches, community groups, and workers such as transporters.
- Over an intense six week period in 2008, these educators reached over 2,500 people in the community.
- Vumilia is the only provider of this kind of specific sex education in Kabras.
Rose Ayuma Moon, a counselor, psychologist and devoted mother, founded Vumilia in April 2004. She is passionately dedicated to saving and healing women and children and many lives have been transformed as a result.
Her vision is inspiring people in Africa and around the world to empower women and children with healing, health, love and support. Rose runs the home on a voluntary basis in partnership with on-the-ground volunteers and dedicated staff who receive a stipend when funds are available. She was fortunate to receive higher education in the UK and Kenya. She recognized the many problems faced by members of her home community in Kabras, impacted by HIV/AIDS. Women in the US, UK and Africa have played a key role in the development of this community organization since its formation.
