PROJECT HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

PROJECT   HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Oyugis Integrated Project is located in Kasipul Division Rachuonyo South Sub-County, Homa Bay County Nyanza region, Kenya East Africa. The history of the project dates back to 1982 when it was started by brothers of our lady mother of mercy, a religious congregation   under the Catholic Dioceses of Homabay. During this time Brothers encountered four major needs for the society around Oyugis. These were;

      I.         Water problem

    II.         Books for orphans to read

  III.         Wounds requiring  medical attention

  IV.         Social assistance for widows, orphans and families affected by poverty and diseases.

The religious  Brothers  through local community  endeavored  to tackle  these problems  and they  established  water tanks to  supply water  and set  up community library  to assist  orphan students and pupils to  study. They also strived to address wounds for the hundreds of patients who visited the place. While treating wounds  they  were confronted  with unfamiliar situation  whereby  it was observed  that the  sizes of the wounds  became  bigger and bigger  and the  affected  people were dying. Initially  the hospitals  around  Oyugis  area  blamed  this on deteriorating  immunity  in the peoples body  which was  thought to be caused by poverty  and poor hygiene.

Later in the mid 1980’s it was discovered that there emerged an incurable disease known as HIV/AIDS in Kenya and other parts of the world. A Dispensary known as Shirikisho was set up to cater for medical attention. The project was started in 1997 but officially registered with Ministry of culture and social services in 2000.

Over the years the project has developed three major departments to address HIV/AIDS pandemic in Oyugis area. These are;

      I.         Medical  Department

    II.         Social Department.

  III.         General Service Department

The project adopted an Integrated approach whereby each department is interrelated and independent on each other. The main aim was to  provide holistic  approach  to  address  the HIV/AIDS  problem  which require  both  curative  and preventive   intervention  as well as deal  with consequences  of the disease  such as orphans .

• Medical Department

Shirikisho Dispensary  under  Oyugis Integrated  Project  assist  the poor, old persons, persons  with disability ,HIV patients  Orphans and vulnerable  children. it offer free outpatient services to the HIV positive clients.

• The social department   

it has three main programs: 

1. food support program
2. Homebased care program
3. orphaned students sponsorship
4. youth empowerment

The four programs offer charity assistance to the poor. they are supported by well-wishers and are non-profit.

• General department 

This is includes the administration that runs the project