Kenya

Our presence in Kenya

Good Shepherd Sisters in Kenya

The Good Shepherd sisters have been present in Kenya since 1981. There are 21 sisters in this Unit and they are in 4 dioceses. There are 2 communities in Meru, and 1 community in Embu, Nairobi, and Kitale which is the newest community, founded in the Rift Valley, Kenya in June 2008. The sisters arrived in Kitale in early 2008 to offer relief services to the many Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who came into town following the 2008 post-election conflicts that devastated many cities in the Rift Valley.

In the different villages, the sisters work with the women to empower them, and to create income generating hand made products. The sisters offer medical, psychological, educational and counselling services to the women. Their goal is to enhance the lives of these women, foster independence, self confidence and self respect. This is achieved through the training received at the centres and the availability of scholarship programs.

Country Background

Economic situation

Kenya is a major place for trade and finance in East Africa, it guarantees growth and stability in the entire region. However, Kenya’s economy depends mostly on agriculture and tourism, both of which rely on unpredictable factors like rain and political stability, but also on the conservation and sustainable management of the country’s rich diversity of natural resources. Years of corruption have also impeded Kenya from benefiting from all the efforts made to develop the economy and the country in general.

Thus, after having experienced encouraging growth rates above 6% in 2006 and 2007, Kenya experienced a clear drop in its economic performances in 2008 due to drought and political instability.

Recent political evolutions

From December 2007 until February 2008, the violent confrontations which occurred after the presidential elections’ results were disputed, caused a severe downturn: besides the disastrous consequences on the economy, about 1,500 people were killed and more than 500,000 people were displaced. In 2008, far from the expected 8%, the growth rate dropped to 1.7% (source US department of State) which is less than the population growth rate of 2.7%. If this continues it can have a serious impact on per capita incomes.

Poverty

In Kenya 50% of the population live below the poverty line (source World Factbook – 2000) and the unemployment rate is 40% (source World Factbook – 2008). The data related to food is also very serious, 31% of the population is undernourished caused by escalating food prices (source WFP). Thus the human insecurity that Kenya experiences, relates primarily to the first category of human threats: chronic hunger, disease, violation of human rights, violent crime and threats to personal property. Kenya has a high incidence of AIDS/HIV with 1.2 million people living with AIDS/HIV (World Factbook 2003) and it has the fourth highest death number from AIDS/HIV. TB and Malaria continue to be significant in Kenya.

Kenya is one of the world’s most drought-prone countries. Indeed, in 2005 the lives of an estimated 3.3 million people in 26 districts were at risk of starvation by a severe drought that hit the whole Horn of Africa, additionally giving way to extensive flooding the following year.

Education

Major efforts have been made by the government in the last fifteen years, however 26,4% of the population is still illiterate, and the percentage of illiteracy among women is much higher than among men. (source Human Development Resource – 2004).

Women’s empowerment and participation in economic, professional (administrative, managerial and technical) and political/elective spheres, although improving, still remain very low.

Economic recovery since the signing of the power-sharing arrangement in 2008 has been slow, due to the devastating aftermath of the elections, the damage to vital infrastructure and the global food, fuel and financial crises that followed later in the year.