In our project area, socioeconomic and demographic factors create needs for children different than what we experience in most areas of the United States.

• At least 20% of the school-aged children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and other diseases. When the Umoja Project started, it was reported that up to 50% of the student population were orphans.  
• Most of the families we serve are involved in subsistence farming, which can be severely impacted by weather and environmental conditions such as drought, flooding, locusts and other infestations.
• The average income is $1.50 USD a day, earned by doing “casual jobs” that are not continuous employment: digging a garden, helping harvest, breaking rocks for gravel, digging sand. Families often struggle to obtain basic necessities.
• Access to education up to secondary school (what we call high school in the US)  is just now becoming a goal of the Kenyan government; however, many children are unable to continue their education past primary school because they must help earn so that the family members can eat. 
• Access to healthcare is rising in importance in Kenya; however, our students and their families have limited ability to access proper healthcare.

Kenya Statistics: WHO Accessed June 22, 2020