Thursday, July 24, 2008

What is "Project Yongo"?

Project Yongo is my brainchild. Having lived and worked among
the poor in an AIDS ravaged community (among a plethora of
other diseases), I have decided to sensitize the world on the plight,
epidemic, and opportunities, which can be explored in order to
minimize, if not eradicate, the poverty within one African
community in Kenya called Agok village.

Agok village has lagged behind the rest of the country due to
cultural and political reasons, with the latter being the major
contributor. The post colonial Kenyan political system did not
favor this region. They were branded anti-government due
to the political ideologies of the country's first Vice President
who hailed from this region. This, coupled with cultural
beliefs in witchcraft (due to minimal exposure to modern
medicine, and women's inheritance), the AIDS epidemic, and
a poor infrastructure, has resulted in a lack of proper
educational materials and a high primary school drop-out.

Agok school was built through community efforts in 1972 to
cater to about 300 plus children from this village and its
environs. It was not until the mid 1980s that other
communities started to build primary schools. This is when
Buru and Ndonyo Primary Schools were born. These two
primary schools helped in off-loading the number of pupils
attending Agok, but it also meant that the limited resources
were to be divided amongst the three.

Meanwhile, for decades, the village's Gudwa Beach, has been
a beach of call for fishermen. This has had a negative impact
on the young girls in this society. Due to economic challenges,
they are forced to drop-out of school and marry some
fisherman because he can provide the much needed daily meal,
not only for the poor girl, but for her entire family.

The boys are not left out either, as they too opt out of school
to look for income-generating ideas namely fishing. This is
mainly because they cannot attend school on an empty
stomach. Even the battle hardened ones who want to continue
cannot. How does it feel to see your mama and siblings go
without food for days, only to beg from your age mate who
dropped-out earlier than you? These kids are left with very
little or no choice but to drop-out of school.

The same with AIDS orphans. The problem is this disease
kills both parents and leaves kids to take care of kids. At this
stage the choices are limited - either head to the beach and
get married or perish. And the circle continues.

In an effort to deal with the above mentioned socio-economic
ills, "Project Yongo" was born. If through it five kids (3 girls,
2 boys) can be educated up to college level, it shall have
attained its goal. Please remember the emphasis on GIRLS.
They have been told they cannot be anything in the society.
While other villages have women doctors, Agok prides itself
in none. My three sisters dropped-out of 10th grade not
because of lack but because they did not have anyone to look
up to. All they heard was 'why waste your time, get married
and start your family... nobody cares about your education'
and sure enough that is what they did, despite Mama and
Daddy's resistance. That is the focus of this project.
TO SEND A GIRL TO SCHOOL & TO EDUCATE THE ORPHANS.

Welcome

My name is Gereson Yongo. I am a native of Kenya, born in Agok
village of Nyanza province, a small community of about 4000 people
found in western Kenya. The son of Jenipher and Washington Yongo,
my father is a pastor at a local church in the village.
I am the second born of eight.

I was raised in the village of Agok at the shore of Lake Victoria.
Due to poor infrastructure or lack thereof, this village is inaccessible
during rainy season. It is a village with neither hospital nor electricity,
the nearest health facility being 20-miles away. This is where I
attended elementary school before joining Nyabondo High School in
Kisumu district and subsequently Kenya Utalli College in Nairobi, Kenya.

As any other local kid I had a rough time growing-up: going without
food, walking in bare feet, suffering from malnutrition-related
diseases, running 5-miles to and from school, balancing life between
herding cows and goats, attending school, taking care of my siblings
while my mother went to the city to sell dried fish. It took a village to
raise me. From my grandmother, uncles, nephews, and church
members to the next-door neighbor, everyone chipped in to help
send me to school.

After schooling I found myself with no option but to move to
Korogocho slums, Nairobi. I lived there for five-years, in a single
mud-wall 10 x 10foot room, with neither a bathroom nor running
water - not to mention electricity. The only good view I had every
morning was of running raw sewage in front of the house. It is in
the slums of Korogocho that I met the love of my life Susan Atieno.
As of May this year we have been married for twenty-years and
are blessed with five children. My eldest (who was born in the slums)
will be attending college this fall in Georgia, USA.

It is through hard work and dedication that I made my way out of the
slums, and I owe it to God's hands. I have worked with various
reputable hospitality organizations spanning three continents. With the
most interesting work life (in my opinion) being in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
where I lived for three-and-a-half years. I moved to the United States
five-years ago with my wife and five children.

I have participated in building churches and houses for the widows
in my village, and am currently supporting needy children through
educational funds. I have been a guest speaker in several churches
in Brunswick, Georgia and am presently working as an Outlets
Manager at a prestigious 80-year-old hotel in the coastal region of
Georgia, USA.

I believe all human beings irrespective of gender, race or religious
affiliation have latent qualities that can be tapped and molded into
whatever they want, and that poverty can be eradicated from the
face of the earth given the right tools to unlock that potential. The
key lies in education - both formal and informal.