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The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child 2005:
Dunga Mothers
The mothers of St Rita walking across a field
Dunga Mothers (then the 20 Mothers of St. Rita).

It all started with a boy named Ferdinand and his mother Rita who lived in a village by Lake Victoria in Kenya.


Although both have since died of AIDS, it was Ferdinand who had suggested that people should work together to help AIDS orphans. It was his wish that the group should be named St. Rita after his mother. The twenty mothers of St. Rita, who are themselves poor, have now been helping orphaned children for the past seven years.

> Meet the Dunga Mothers
Why have the St. Rita mothers been awarded?
The 20 mothers of St. Rita received The World's Children's Prize 2005 for their voluntary and committed struggle to help children living in the villages around Kisumu in Kenya who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS. These are children who could otherwise end up living on the streets facing a life of drugs, violence, crime and prostitution. The mothers fight for the rights of orphaned children to ensure that they get the same opportunities in life as other children. Despite the fact that most of the mothers are themselves very poor, they currently provide 43 orphaned children with food, clothes, medicines, schooling, new homes, new families and love. The mothers get no financial support from either the government or any organisation.
portrait Penina Awino

Penina misses her mother very much and thinks about her every day. But she is very grateful for the help she and her brothers get from the St. Rita mothers.

> Meet Penina

The red ribbon is a symbol of HIV/Aids victims

What is HIV / AIDS?
HIV is a virus that destroys the body's immune defence.

> More about HIV / AIDS


Portait Steven Odhiambo
"Without help from the mothers of St. Rita I'd been on the streets and with no chance to go to school," says Steven, 12.

> Meet Steven Od



What's your name in Luo?

Do you know the time of your birth? Check below and see what your middle name would've been if you'd been born in a Luo village!

> Luo and Swahili!



portrait Steven Omondi
Steven's mum and dad died three years ago, leaving him all on his own. Since then he has been living on the streets of Kisumu.

> Meet Steven Om
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