WISER

The WISER Story

The WISER NGO in Kenya, in conjunction with Duke University in the US emerges from a long term relationship between Dr. Sherryl Broverman and Andy Cunningham at Duke and Dr. Rose Odhiambo at Egerton University. Dr. Odhiambo was the first girl from her village to go to high school and is the only member of either sex to obtain a graduate degree. Rose left her home in Muhuru Bay to escape an arranged marriage. With no family support or contact for years, Rose struggled in a Nairobi slum while finishing her degrees. During this time Rose also married and raised four sons. She now serves as the Director of the Institute for Women, Gender, and Development Studies at Egerton University, and is a consultant for the Kenyan government on many issues relating to gender. Most recently Dr. Odhiambo assisted in documenting the high levels of sexual violence that occurred in the camps for internally displaced people after the political violence in Kenya.

Rose is a national role model to women in Kenya, but even more so to the girls in Muhuru Bay, where only 5% of girls finish secondary school. WISER works to provide educational expertise and financial resources so more girls, particularly orphans, can realize their potential as individuals and live with respect and dignity without having to struggle alone as Rose did.

WISER’s initial project is in Muhuru Bay on Lake Victoria in Nyanza Province, Dr. Odhiambo’s home village. The 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey lists the HIV prevalence rate in Nyanza at 15%, the highest in the country. The National AIDS Control Council as well as local leaders report that the prevalence in Muhuru Bay is at least 38%, most likely due to its location on Lake Victoria. Coastal and fishing communities account for a significant part of the HIV cases in Kenya due to high rates of transactional sex associated with the fishing industry and culture. The majority of these transactional sex events involve adolescent or pre-adolescent girls who are in need of sugar daddies. The girls themselves talk openly about the need to ‘make friends’ with either fishermen or teachers to get by and are often encouraged to do so by their parents in order to receive funds, school books, or supplies. As one secondary school said about studying, “When you ask a girl to light the lamp, she tells you she is tired. If we cannot light the lamp, we just sit. (But) if you become friends, you can do so many things.”

Through multiple programs WISER is addressing the egregious social and emotional burdens on girls and women, while also working to involve male stakeholders in valuing gender parity.

Through five years of teamwork building, WISER now has a local advisory board of Muhuru citizens who guide our projects. (WISER also has a national Kenyan advisory board, but the local board is the ‘voice from the ground.’) Our vice-chair is a woman, we have permanent positions for both older women and school age girls (chosen by the community) on the board, and WISER will not hold any meetings where women are not present. Andy Cunningham is living in the community as WISER’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, leading the start-up phases of the project. As one secondary school girl says, “Without even having walls, WISER has already transformed my community. Our girls now have a goal. Our families now value both male and female schoolgirls. I, myself as a young woman, feel more ready to change my life because of WISER programs… I cannot even begin to imagine what will happen when WISER has walls!”