It began at a meeting in Umeå., Sweden. Bernadette Ouma, Chairperson of Kamuga Women Organization, explained the situation in her village to Ulla Herbert, chairperson of the Women’s International Association (IKF).

In the village where Bernadette lives there were many orphans. Bernadette is strongly committed to the children’s situation. She had thirteen orphans living in her home – children without relatives. IKF( the Swedish Organization) started to collect money to help providing for the children.

We wanted to do more, and had extensive discussions with the members of Kamuga about how we best could work together. They wanted to build a center that could be a gathering place for children and adolescents. There could also be sleeping quarters for some girls, who had no relatives..

We raised money for materials for a house. The women built the house in traditional style and it is similar to the other houses in the village. There is land around the house, where women can grow vegetables.

It is not easy to be young in the village. After primary school, there is nothing to do. They cannot afford to continue schooling as they don´t have money for school fees.
The boys begin to fish. It is common for fishermen to smoke bhang, a local intoxicant.
The girls are forced to marry very young or allow themselves to be exploited by men. The risk of HIV is great – the number of HIV carriers in the area is large..

The women asked us to help them to create something for youth. We applied for a visitor’s journey to Forum Syd. We visited Kamuga and learnt that what the young people needed was practical   training to be able to cope in the future. We decided to start a vocational school. The young people will learn to become carpenters and tailors and learn how to run a small business. They also get knowledge about how to protect themselves from HIV and AIDS. Forum Syd has supported the project financially for four years.

The school started in 2005, but over the years the premises became worn. In 2014 we decided to move to better premises in Homa Bay town where it will be better premises for the students and easier to sell what the students produce.