Chapter
GlobeMed at Brown University | Providence, Rhode Island

Partner
Ungano Tena (U-Tena) | Nairobi, Kenya

Key Fact
There are approx 2.5 million slum dwellers in about 200 settlements in Nairobi representing 60% of the Nairobi population, occupying just 6% of the land. Kibera houses almost 1 Million of these people. Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world.

“The initiators of U-Tena also noted that there existed a gap in the information on HIV and AIDS, reproductive health, environmental health, and other domains of health of the youth and the community at large. It was due to the above challenges that talented youth came up to form U-Tena. The core strategy was to use theater as tool of delivering health information to youth and other members of the community. People from different parts of the world are invited to join U-tena provided they play part in realizing vision and mission of the organization.”
– Chacha Baru Peter Musya, Deputy Director at U-Tena

About the Partnership
Ungano Tena (U-Tena) is a grassroots community based organization created in 2005 by youth from the Viwandani-Mukuru slum in East Nairobi. U-Tena’s mission is to educate local communities about sexual and reproductive health and to raise awareness of related health and social issues through popular education and partnerships with key stakeholders. Through music, dance, two-dimensional art, and theatre, U-Tena teaches communities about HIV, STIs, sexual health, reproductive health, and other health related issues. Since the fall of 2011, the GlobeMed chapter at Brown University has raised $3,700 for U-Tena’s Kuza Project.

Project
This year, GlobeMed at Brown University aims to fund U-Tena’s Kuza Project: the building of a youth girls’ center in Nairobi, Kenya. U-Tena is establishing a youth-friendly safe space within the slum where young persons will be able to engage in off-the-street activities (computer games, theatre, music etc), and receive health and life skills education and social services. Peers will specifically outreach to girls, aged 10-17, in the Viwandani-Mukuru slum, and will focus on teaching about sexual health practices and how to become financially independent.

Impact
Girls will be taught about personal management, employment seeking, and informed decision-making. Increased skills around finances, both earning and saving, will provide independence and interrupt early initiation into sex activity and mitigate other sex related harms including HIV/STI risk.

Get Involved
Donate to this cause. Interested in joining GlobeMed at Brown University? Contact brown@globemed.org.

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