Tree of Lives

Joy children's village orphanage there are a total of 53 children under care at joy village and 10 staff members, including 6 mamas, 3 aunties, and one grounds and maintenance supervisor. About half of the children still live on the compound, while the others are at quality boarding schools during the school year and spend holidays and breaks either with family or at oasis centers where they receive skills trainings and personal development instruction and learn to make healthy lifestyle choices. 14 of the joy village students enrolled in high school are part of the scholars program and report regularly to teacher george. In june of 2022, 36 solar panels were installed on the roof of joy village and switched on for operation, providing 9,360 average kilowatts of energy per hour. The average annual utility bill for joy village is 22,000, but in fewer than three years, the solar panels will have paid for themselves and will virtually eliminate the joy village electric bill. In march of 2022, construction finished on the outer wall of the compound, which was knocked down in 2020 as part of a road expansion. A new water tower was also constructed. The female joy village counselor has conducted counseling sessions twice a month and a new male counselor started offering session as well in september, as some of the older boys felt more comfortable speaking with a man. Nineteen of the joy village girls attended life skills mentorship lessons at kimela training center twice a month. Nazareth hospital over 200 patients, both in- and out-patient medical procedures, were supported through the Tree of Lives charity account enabling the poorest of the poor to obtain treatment for life-threatening illnesses. Pastoral care and counseling was provided by two counselors for around 2,000 people, though the exact number is uncertain because the counselors do not included records of staff, students, and grief counseling for confidentiality reasons. The pastoral counseling program at nazareth is the only program of its kind in kenya. Holy family center the program put on by the youth mentors for world aids day on dec. 1, 2022 more than quadruped in scope from one year ago, with around 5,000 people reached during the event, 4,000 of which were youth. 15 youth mentors organized the event. Ambassadors traveled to popular gathering spots, including marketplaces, flower farms, boda boda (motorcycle) sheds, bus stops and even a mobile road show from nazareth to ruaka, a neighboring town. 817 people were tested for hiv and of, those, 13 were enrolled in the holy family center treatment program and 25 were put on pre-exposure measures. The viral suppression rate among youth involved in the holy family center programs is at 92%. Hfc's number of patients on antiretroviral therapy (art) increased to 6,467 in 2022. The overall viral suppression rate among patients was 94%, well above the national average of around 72%. In 2022, 6,050 individuals were tested for hiv, with 554 newly identified positives and 522 individuals newly enrolled in the art program, either at nazareth or at one of their 7 satellite clinics. Additionally, 100% of tuberculosis (tb)/hiv co-infected patients are on art and 100% of hiv infected individuals were screened for tb. Tb is the major cause of death in hiv infected patients. For the 10th year in a row, hfc's mother to mother program, designed to prevent the transmission of hiv from hiv+ pregnant women to their children, had a 100% success rate. The program uses counseling, nutrition, and mentorship to prevent transmission. Throughout the year 47 counseling sessions were held. In 2022, there were 138 newly identified hiv positive mothers. In total, 570 mothers and 432 hiv-exposed infants (heis) received support through the program. Also this year, 56 infants "graduated" from the program at two years of age, all hiv negative. Other achievements in this area included reduced maternal and hei mortality and improved retention rate of mothers and heis. Throughout 2022, hfc continued their distribution of food packs comprised of porridge flour, maize flour, and beans. These are especially important for hiv+ patients whose medication must be taken with food. They also provided formula to nursing mothers who are hiv positive and cannot therefore nurse their children themselves. Through our boxes of love fundraiser, 200 families at holy family center were given rice, flour, soap, oil, sugar and shoes for 8 weeks over the holiday season. Allamano school and scholars program we vastly expanded our scholars program in 2022, which now includes 113 scholars. This year one student graduated from university and two graduated from secondary school and applied to college. Teacher george has flourished in his role as the administrator of the scholars program. He holds meetings with the students and teachers each quarter and goes over the progress of each student. 120 food and supplies packets from our boxes of love fundraiser went to the families of allamano students.