SOTENI International (Cincinnati, OH) is a charity that helps orphans and vulnerable children who have been most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Founded in 2003, by American and African volunteers, the nonprofit works through the ‘Villages of Hope’ model … where grassroots sustainable communities, led by locally elected management, supports orphans, children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

In 2004, SOTENI Kenya opened 3 Village of Hope, with more than 4,000 orphans and vulnerable children. Contributions, both financial and in-kind exceeded $250,000, as volunteers and interns from 5 continents joined local volunteers. In 2005, a fourth village of Hope was opened and the Kenyan staff grew to 13 workers. Each SOTENI Village received a World Bank pilot grant.

Today the Villages of Hope include over 8,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

One Village in Mbakalo opened a health center offering primary care and preventive services.

Each Village is also working to ensure sustainability through income-generating activities, such as the health center and beekeeping.

The AIDS Barefoot Doctors program trains paramedical assistants to provide home-based nursing care, education, and prevention to families living with HIV/AIDS. Twenty four AIDS Barefoot Doctors have been trained, some of them AIDS orphans supported by the Villages of Hope.

A sponsorship program provides school fees, tuition, uniforms, clothing, health care, food and psychosocial support to orphans.

SOTENI’s six main principles are:

Sustainability via community leadership
Opportunity to maximize everyone’s gifts
Training ‘barefoot doctors’ to fight AIDS
Epidemiology to evaluate and improve our efforts
Networking to benefit from existing assets
Interdependence that connects us all

Information on their programs, sponsor and donation opportunities can be found on their website.