Background History of Got Matar.

Got Matar, meaning "Bare Hilltop" is an area of dispersed rural settlement in the Sub County of Bondo in Siaya County in the west of Kenya, near Lake Victoria, the source of the river Nile. Its economy is based on fishing in the Lake and on small –scale farming which is susceptible to periodic droughts.

The area is amongst the poorest in Kenya and suffered the highest level of HIV infection in all of Kenya around the turn of a century. AIDS killed many of the community’s working age population and left over one third of the children living as orphans. The economic problems facing the area had been exacerbated by a very high incidence of HIV infection,triggered in part by the cultural traditions of the dominant Luo population. The custom of “wife inheritance” offers avaluable form of insurance to bereaved widows in normal times but can be lethal when HIV appears on the scene.

In the above respect local community leaders under the leadership of Grace Ochieng' Andiki came up with the idea of forming Got Matar Community Development Group (GMCDG) in 2006 now a CBO to respond to the crisis. Following a series of consultation with potential donors, GMCDG began its operations with its main objective being, to ensure that school going age children in East Yimbo location access both Primary and Secondary Education plus skills training. See www.gotmatar.org for more information about Got Matar Community Development Group.

Got Matar Institute of Technology (IoT) was founded by the Got Matar Community Developement Group in 2012 as a community enterprise to enable young members of the community to acquire practical skills for which there was a growing demand in Kenya. It began with a dress-making and tailor course for about 30 students in the recently built Women's Centre.Since then it has grown rapidly and now registered, accredited and regulated by Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).

Milestones

Institute Administration

PORTRAIT

Mrs. Grace Andiki

GMIT Director

PORTRAIT

Mr. Samwel Obalah

GMIT Manager

Mr. Alex Juma

Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

PORTRAIT

Miss. Phocy Aumah

Finance Manager

PORTRAIT

Mr. Nicholas Arwa

IT Manager

On campus

Fig. 09 — Our Founders

Got Matar Community Development Group

GMIT exists because GMCDG built it. The community group that founded the institute in 2012 remains its parent organisation today.

Got Matar Community Development Group, pictured outside the Food & Beverage Department.

GMCDG was formed in 2006 under the leadership of Grace Ochieng' Andiki, in response to the high orphan rate and economic hardship the East Yimbo area faced from the HIV crisis at the turn of the century. The group's founding objective was to ensure school-going children in the area could access primary and secondary education, plus skills training — the same mission that led it to establish GMIT in 2012. More on GMCDG's wider work is at gotmatar.org.