Nuru Comic Project

This initiative draws on a printed comic book to entertain audiences while raising their awareness about various issues. The stories aim to guide young people toward wise choices, such as abstinence and delayed sexual debut, by modelling behaviour instead of lecturing to them. The adventures of the main character - Nuru - have no single over-arching message; instead, messages about delayed sexual debut, HIV counselling and testing, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are woven into the stories, which also address issues such as rape, economic hardship in the family, and orphans. The tales also explore everyday life occurrences, including falling in love, receiving a scholarship, marriage, and death. The stories present dilemmas but do not always offer an "answer" to every crisis. Sometimes the story ends in a cliff-hanger in order to provoke dialogue and discussion at the community level.

Specifically, the comic tells the story of Nuru, "an upbeat 17-year-old Kenyan who is well-liked and has many friends. The daughter of a trucker, she lives in a boarding-school, where she has come to know other young people from different parts of the country, different classes and different tribes. Known for her good judgment, Nuru has abstained from sexual activity and is something of a role model for her younger friend, Janet. But Nuru’s boyfriend Leon, a soccer player at the school, recently left Nuru for the more free-spirited Angel. Angel, who once had sex with a teacher to improve her grades, is kept by a sugar-daddy - who happens to be Janet’s father. In a recent six-month period, Leon had sex with six different people and has since become HIV-positive. In the teenagers’ skittish community, this prompted some to question aloud whether Leon should continue playing team sports or whether another player could even safely wear Leon’s jersey. Meanwhile, Nuru’s friend Oscar is facing his own HIV dilemma as he adjusts to living with his HIV-positive uncle."

The stories are field-tested in selected primary and secondary schools, where students provide feedback on whether a character would genuinely behave in a certain way or whether some action seems plausible.

Youth, HIV/AIDS.

The organisers say Nuru’s stories are widely read by the Kenyan youth. "One PATH survey found 91% of Nuru readers had talked to someone about the comic; many cited positive aspects of the characters’ relationships, such as a decision by Nuru and Bruce to postpone having sex."

The first 4 editions each had a print run of 48,000, half in English and half in KiSwahili, while the final book had a print run of 68,000. The books are distributed by IMPACT, the Kenya Girl Guides Association (KGGA), and various youth-serving organisations. Nuru also has been inserted into some copies of the Daily Nation newspaper. More recently, 1- and 2-page Nuru strips have been published in youth magazines like the Insyder and Supa Strikas.