KIBISOM: Come and Learn

“To mobilize global and grassroot responses to address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, people living with HIV/AIDS, and local, neglected, illiterate women.”

The view from the top of a hill near KIBISOM.

To the novice eye Rusinga Island looks like paradise. The hills rise majestically from the blue waters of Lake Victoria and seem to beckon one to explore and to learn about the people who call this place home.

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KIBISOM (Kiagasa Breast Feeding Single Mothers/Orphaned Child), translated from the local language, Luo, means “come and learn” and is a registered women's group project and community based organization. It is located in the middle of Rusinga Island, approximately 8 kilometers from Mbita, on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Esther Evelyne Odhiambo

KIBISOM was founded by Esther Evelyne Odhiambo and her friend Elizabeth in 1996 and aims “to mobilize global and grassroot responses to address the needs or orphans and vulnerable children, people living with HIV/AIDS, and local, neglected, illiterate women.”

According to Esther, when she moved to Rusinga Island from Nairobi in 1995 deaths from AIDS were so common that up to 6 people were perishing in the community daily.

Most of the people dying from HIV/AIDS were young parents who left behind their children to be cared for by their already overlooked, food insecure and oftentimes illiterate grandmothers. KIBISOM was established to help support these grandmothers through health trainings, income generating activities, and other forms of gourp counseling.

Nelrcilla is pictured here with four of the eight grandchildren who she supports next to her outdoor kitchen where she is boiling maize.

There are a number of sources of food insecurity in this region which include: HIV/AIDS and other diseases such as malaria and TB, limited access to water, healthcare, and education, and limited economic activity to increase self-reliance.