Empower International Micro-Enterprise Program
There are currently over 1.6 million orphans in Kenya. Experts predict there will be over 2 million orphans by 2010. Six hundred fifty thousand children have lost parents to HIV/AIDS. There are minimal infrastructures, such as orphanages, to support and care for these children. The burden of responsibility for their care has been placed on a number of grandparents, a majority who are single women. Yet many children still live on the streets with little or no care.
When Empower International staff from the U.S. also visited schools in Kenya, they discovered that many of the children attending school receive one meal a day and often come to school hungry. The teachers pleaded with the U.S. team and said, "Please, please find a way to feed our children. We can't keep their attention during school because they are hungry." Empower International's response was, "If the children aren't able to pay attention in the classroom because they are hungry, then how are they going to pay attention to the Empower International Kenya staff who are doing HIV/AIDS prevention in their schools?"
As the organization examined the immediate needs of these children and the strain that the pandemic has placed on the system and grandparents caring for orphans and vulnerable children, Empower International and Pump House Ministries launched its first micro-enterprise pilot project in September, 2007. This project provides manageable, self-sustaining income and food for grandparents and the care of their orphans and vulnerable children.