Kenya is located on the east coast of central Africa, a land of a, a land of striking landscapes, ranging from snow capped Mount Kenya to rich farmlands, barren deserts to tropical beaches.

Apart from the high plateau, the Lake Victoria basin and the south coast, poor soils and dry climate make most of the country suitable only for grazing cattle. Away from the tropical south coast, rainfall varies with altitude. Only a sixth of Kenya has a reliable amount of rain a year (76 cm), the minimum for cereal cultivation.

30 million Kenyans are distributed in a very uneven way throughout the country, given that the north and north-east regions are arid and inhospitable for human settlement. Yet the country’s economy depends mainly on agriculture for there is little mining and manufacturing is limited by the lack of fuel and ore.

The urban population is nearly 25% of the total and is concentrated in a few large cities, mainly in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kisumu. Such density of people causes pollution of drinking water supplies especially near the urban centres Nairobi and Mombasa. Throughout these areas, cholera and typhoid spread through lack of clean water. Women and children walk miles every day in the heat and dust to collect their supply of water for drinking and cooking, in vessels they carry on their heads. Often they do not have even the few shillings needed to buy clean water from a standpipe and so search for water from contaminated ponds. One of the small 'businesses' promoted by Equipe is a water supply.

Principal environmental problems are soil exhaustion, erosion and desertification caused by deforestation and overworked land.

See below for our work in Mtwapa, Kisumu and Busia.

If you would like to make a donation directly to this project then please make your cheque payable to Equipe and send it to The Mitre Buildings, Brewery Place, Brook Street, Wrexham, LL13 7LU. All contributions given go straight into Africa; there is no UK administration charge.

Mtwapa

Mtwapa is about 10 kilometres north of Mombasa on the south coast.

Benedict Amenemoit and his family live in the village. His desire is to release the potential in others. With a small team of like-minded people, he has established a small training centre to teach computer skills. Focusing principally on adult training they are working to develop key skills in information technology, communications and other practical applications. Their target is to equip trainees to set up and run their own small businesses and enable them in turn to train others.

Several plots have been identified as potential sites to build a multi-purpose educational base incorporating an adult learning centre, small workshops with school rooms and meeting hall for the whole community.

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Kisumu

Kenya's people are an agglomeration of tribes, cultures, religions and languages. The different tribes are grouped according to their linguistic origin. This diversity results in most Kenyans speaking more than one language. The native tongues persist, but Swahili is the common language for all East Africa. English is the 'official' language and Kenyans learn it at school.

Kisumu and Homa Bay are on Lake Victoria. Kisumu is a lively town and port with links by boat to Musoma (Tanzania) and Entebbe (Uganda).

Nicholas Agonda and his family live in the town. Very diligent and hard working, his heart is for the children. He is a keen advocate of the Child Sponsorship Scheme and supports a class of nursery school children.

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Busia

Busia is about 200 kilometres north-west of Kisumu on the Kenyan/Ugandan border.

Busia is in a very rural and remote though beautiful part of Kenya.

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