Rusinga Island is home to luo community located in south Nyanza Province. It is surrounded by Lake Victoria and borders Mfangano Island to the south. Estimate population range between 30 000 to 40 000. The main economic activity for the locals is fishing and a little farming. Currently, there is depletion of resources in the island due to exploitation of resources, land degradation, drought, mono cropping and depletion of fish stock in the lake are everywhere; semi arid is the primary climate.
The region is highly affected with HIV epidemic which estimates to 34% of the population infected by HIV/AIDS and is currently leading Nationwide in HIV infection. This has lead to many orphans in the region leaving many children living with their grandparents.
Rusinga Island has four locations namely: Ngodhe Island, kamasengre, wanyama and kakrigu. It has 23 primary schools heavenly distributed within all locations and five public secondary schools namely: kamasengre, kaswanga Girls, St. Joseph Girls and Waware mixed secondary school.
The enrollment rates in these schools vary due to various reasons such as locality. The economy of this region is characterized with poverty with over 50% of the people in extreme poverty. There is also high illiteracy rate and low infrastructure. Teenagers are actively engaged in the fishing activities. Fishing activities serve as the source of livelihood to many families in the area. Since fish is a highly tradable commodity which is in use for many purposes, especially for provision of protein at household level, its price is high a factor which appeals to many fishermen in this case including young school going children who see fishing as a way to quick riches.
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