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The Frank Facts
It might be surprising to most that despite its receiving substantial outside funding to aid this issue, the Kenyan government does not back most of the AIDS orphan programs. Most of Kenya’s orphan programs depend on outside funding from non-governmental agencies based in economically affluent countries. The programs, despite the positive intentions of their initiators, are rarely self-sustaining. There are several national aid programs (the Nyumbani Hospice and The New Life Home, for example), some small community-based schemes as well as international organizations like UNICEF and Save the Children Fund, to mention a few, trying to address the HIV/AIDS orphan situation, but their task is great and their projects are not being carried out on the scale required. Unfortunately, goodwill notwithstanding, they are generally capable of helping fewer than a hundred children at the same time and their assistance has so far been unable to reach the majority of the children who so desperately need help. Although Kenya has a new government, which has vowed to devote more resources towards the overall HIV/AIDS crisis, including the orphan issue, the government is riddled and burdened by issues inherited from the previous regime, which focused its attention on battles such as dwindling foreign aid, political pressures and a virtual collapse of its infrastructure. However, increased publicity and scrutiny are serving the cause well. The crisis, once in the background, is now receiving some attention. But, its magnitude is just too large for the government alone to handle. |
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