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Title and Organization:		Group founder, Kwareslum Self Help Group
Gender and Age:		Male, 27
Location:		Kisii, Nyanza
Country of Residence:		Kenya
Nationalities:		Kenyan
Languages:		English



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About Me

I am the kwareslum Youth Self help group Chairman. My name is Jones Otieno Obiria. I was born in Igenaitambe Village, which is 50 km from Kisii Town in Kenya. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. I am the founder of Kwareslum Self-Help Group, which serves the poor youth of Kisii.
I returned to my home region to address the abject poverty there, which is a result of both government apathy and land pressure, among other factors. The local government has forgotten us, and there are no projects or organizations involved in assisting our village. In addition, land pressure due to population increases has resulted in families having only small plots on which to do their basic farming, and these plots do not yield enough to feed a family. In this area, 98% of the families are below the poverty line, living on less than US $1 a day. More than a half of the population goes to bed without food at night. People are constantly trapped in a cycle of poverty from one generation to the next.
I saw how miserable people were in my community, resorting to prostitution in order to get food, and dying from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, STDs, hunger, malaria, malnutrition, and micronutrient deficiency. I founded the Kisii-based Kwareslum Self-Help Group to reduce poverty by engaging young people in skill development and income-generating activities. The project beneficiaries are the poor youths who have dropped out of school due to a lack of money for school fees and their families’ need for additional income. Some of these teens have resorted to prostitution to earn a living and now face a greater risk of contracting HIV/ AIDS disease.
I believe that I can make a positive contribution to the vulnerable people in the community and to my country by engaging youth, which will be useful for the development of the country. Having been born and raised in the community enables me to understand the problems and needs of our community. I am ready and able to teach the youth of Kisii how to lift themselves out of poverty and become self-sufficient, highly-skilled adults.