PC Kenya and My Assignment

Follow this website to see the history of Peace Corps in Kenya and some related links to volunteer service: http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Kenya

Although my exact projects are not set in stone (I'll learn more about what I'm doing once training has started and they find the best fit for me), here is the info I was given about what I'm to expect as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya.

PROGRAM: Public Health
JOB TITLE: HIV/AIDS and Hygiene Educators
DATES OF SERVICE: July 22 2010 - July 21 2012
PRE-SERVICE TRAINING (in Loitokitok): May 26 - July 22 2010

"But Helen, what are you going to be doing for 2 years?"
My primary duties include,

Goal 1: Communities will increase their awareness of health issues including HIV/AIDS/STI and will be mobilized to assess and prioritize their development needs.

Goal 2: Youth in school and out of school will take a positive action against the spread of HIV/AIDS/STI (ie, awareness, knowledge, skills, and attitudes).

Goal 3: NGO's, CBO's, and community groups will develop and implement behavior change interventions to facilitate household behavior change regarding health issues, including HIV/AIDS prevention, care and mitigation, life skills, home-based care, cargiver training, and orphan care).

Goal 4: Service providers will enhance their capacity to enable households to adopt domestic practices to counter health problems, such as malaria, malnutrition, diarrhea, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

There is so much more written, but we'll just have to wait and see what projects I'm given. The note that I think really will sum up my service is the introduction from the Peace Corps director for the Public Health Project which I found very inspiring, and I will probably end up cursing a year from now because nothing is as easy as it seems.

"...The 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey estimates that 1.4 million Kenyans age 15-64 are living with HIV, placing Kenya's HIV prevalence rate for 2007 at 7.4% (compared to 5.1% prevalence rate in 2006). Women continue to be disproportionately affected by the epidemic, representing nearly 3 in 5 of those living with HIV. In 1 out of 10 married couples, at least one partner is HIV-infected. These statistics indicate the urgent attention that needs to be paid in continuing to promote HIV and AIDS prevention activities....

"In addition to HIV/AIDS prevention, the Public Health project also focuses on general health and hygiene education, community outreach to heighten awareness of water and sanitation issues, environmental issues, and malaria control. Malaria is a major public health problem in Kenya. It is one of the leading causes of death of children under the age of five. It kills approximately one in eight children. 77% of Kenya's population of 34 million are at risk.

"...Youth Development. During the last post-election violence in Kenya, it was reported that the majority of the youth, who comprise over 60% of the currenty population, participated in the violence....It is time...to think about channeling the power of the youth into productive versus destructive ends....

"The goal of the Public Health project is to empower Kenyan communities, especially youth and people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS to improve their quality of life by assessing their own needs, and adopting knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote healthy behavior regarding HIV/AIDs/STIs, malaria and water and sanitation issues. The project will help youth to engage positively in their roles within family life, the world of work and active citizenship.

"The project activities you will be working on will focus mainly on areas ranging from developing and disseminating HIV preventive strategies--that hopefully will lead to behavior change, promotion of hygiene education, to prevent water borne diseases and malaria control, and to help promote small community water projects through Peace Corps small projects assistance...."

All this information can be credited to my assignment booklet and the Kenya Welcome Book. This book is found online as a PDF (http://www.peacecorps.gov/welcomebooks/kewb615.pdf) and has a huge amount of resources for volunteers and friends/family of volunteers.

That's it for now! I'll update later when I get info about my staging city and schedules.

-H