Ringiti is a small island on Lake Victoria, a two-hour motorboat rid from the shores of Homa Bay County in Kenya. It is home to more than 5000 children. There is no electricity, safe water, sanitation or healthcare on the Island. A health facility has been under construction for some time but is not operational because there is no electricity. Weekly outreach services provide basic, antenatal, HIV testing male circumcision & outpatient care. HIV/AIDS is 35 – 55% among the adult population, 6 x the national average. This is because there is a high transient population, exchange of fish for sex (locally termed “jaboya” is rife, and mother-to-child transmission is high. 

Malaria, typhoid, diarrhoea and water-borne diseases are rife. Fishing of the local highly-prized wild Nile perch and tilapia is the only industry but there is little income for the fisherman. Most rent their boats and since there is no means of storing fish, each catch is rowed to shore and sold at rock-bottom prices to the fish middlemen before it spoils. After paying for boat rental, little is left for the fishermen but the middlemen thrive on the multi-million dollar international market.