In the Obunga slums in Kisumu, Kenya many children have to live under miserable conditions - in the slums of Kisumu a 'house' is a corrugated iron shed with a 'floor' of clay and mud. As a result, the children's life expectancy is not very high. Their basic human needs are not met: clean drinking water, food, medical care and the opportunity to participate in education.

Due to the huge AIDS problem in Kenya many of their parents have died which means an entire generation is being raised at best by aunts, grandmothers or other relatives. At worst, children are forced to live on the muddy streets. Many children die from malaria simply because there are no financial resources to treat them. Often, there is no one to look out for these children and they end up abandoned and starving.

We were touched by the poverty the children were facing and as a result founded the Shinners (pronounced SHINE-ers) Women's Group in 1997. Now the group consists of about 15 volunteers. We work with HIV/aids orphans, widows and young people. Initially we collected money amongst ourselves in the form of a merry go round but as the number of orphans being supported grew we started approaching other people for help.

Now we are supporting the secondary education of 5 children in other schools and 35 little ones between the ages of 1 - 4 years, who come to the centre daily for orientation, feeding and education. We have 40 more children registered with us aged between 6-18 years in various schools. We are not doing much for them due to lack of finances. We need a lot of assisitance from other groups in order to eradicate poverty and enhance education within this community.