A Personal Note

The Odhiambo Mbai Centre is an organization, which acts both as a foundation and a platform for generating sustainable development in the region. The Centre is run by two women and a board of directors. It particularly seeks to empower the community towards its own development. I founded the centre with my daughter as a tribute to my late husband. My husband up until his death had dedicated his life to effecting change that betters the lives of Kenyans, advocated for democratic Governance and strived for economical and sustainable development. His ideas and vision for Kenya not only act as personal inspiration but also played a major role in the formulation of the Centre. For me, the Centre is a platform to highlight and solve many of the developmental problems I have encountered since I relocated to work in the rural area after my husband’s death.

The Centre currently grapples with several poverty related challenges, however as a widow who comes from a community whose negative cultural practices have contributed to the escalation of the HIV/ AIDS pandemic (one of the biggest challenges the Centre has met yet so far), I particularly empathies with the women who unlike myself, do not have the privileged to go against tradition. I believe that if more women are empowered towards alternate avenues of survival we would have fewer grandparents and child-headed households.

Although the Centre’s objective is to build sovereign voice towards unity, poverty reduction and improved livelihoods for the community; in my experience, HIV/AIDS is dangerous in that it reverses gains in developmental achievements. Further the direct costs and other impacts of increased ill-health such as spending on healthcare and lower productivity drives many families into poverty. It is mainly for this reason that the Centre works in Kanyada, Asego Division, Homa Bay District, in Nyanza Province. Nyanza is among the marginalized areas in Kenya. For example the constituency where Kanyada is situated has an estimated population of 145,274. Out of this 104, 335 individuals live below the poverty line (1999 census). Our vision entails effectively mitigating the causes and impact of HIV/AIDS, by providing the community with the necessary infrastructure, for sustainable development. In this way we hope that we not only help eradicate the pandemic but we also tackle the poverty related problems in the region.

I hope this document not only gives you a deeper understanding of the work being done with the community, our vision and goals but also ignites a desire to assist our efforts, especially in intensifying our funding efforts to empower the community. The work so far has been challenging mainly because the need is great but the resources both technical and financial are limited. We are a young organization but our motivation and inspiration from the people we serve, hope to serve in the future and the mandate we set for the Centre sustains us. The rewards in our efforts thus far, are in huge part products of the collaboration of friends, well wishers- basically ordinary people who realize there is a need to change things, and are in a position to make a difference. For there to be real significant change, there is need to also collaborate with organizations who have the resources to intensify our efforts.

I would therefore like to invite you to join and assist us in developing tangible lasting solutions. Thank you in advance. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely

Margaret. A. Odhiambo

Financing Director