Conservation Program Update: Grass Seed Bank Project Update

The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, together in partnership with donor A New Course, are establishing a grass bank for seed production near Kuku village, in the centre of Kuku Group Ranch. Currently, a team of local Maasai are in the works of preparing the fertile land by carefully ploughing the open areas, not to disturb the existing flora. The installation of the structural components, posts and stakes, for the solar fence to enclose the grass seed bank has been completed, supervised by a craftsman employed by MWCT.

The location (red point) of the 43 acre Grass Seed Bank near Kuku village on Kuku Group Ranch

A community meeting was held to inform the community about the grass seed project and it's potential benefits. The community members of Kuku greatly welcomed the project and participated in the site selection for the 43 acre grass seed bank.

Local community members assist in constructing the solar fence of the grass seed bank. Commitment and hard work is required from a number of community members to ensure a smooth initiation of the project

All of the required equipment has arrived at the site and is installed. The infrastructure for the fence has been fully installed, and the wiring for the fence will be completed once the land has been fully prepared in the coming weeks.

The gate for the grass seed bank ready to be installed

15 women from the local women's group are to be educated on the creation and management of grass banks for seed production in the next week. First, the women will be active in preparing the terrain and filling the existing erosion gullies with rocks and dead plant material. After this, the purchased Horse-tail grass (Chloris roxburghiana), Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and Masai love-grass (Eragrotis superba) seeds will be sown in the areas before the next rains in March - May 2015.

Installed corner posts for the grass bank

This project will not only directly benefit the women groups through generating an income from selling seeds and harvesting grass, but it will also create awareness for the protection and restoration of rangelands and contribute to MWCT's greater ecosystem restoration and rangeland management program. This model has the potential to be replaced on a broader scale in the ecosystem and the produced seeds can be used to reclaim heavily degraded grasslands.

\We look forward to continuing to update you on the progress of meetings, preparations, and developments of this very exciting project!

The land is ready and eager to be ploughed!

Health Program Update - April Efforts

We apologize, as it has been a while since we have updated on the MWCT Health Program! We can assure you that the team is still working incredibly hard to improve and increase the access to adequate health services across the Group Ranch!

For the month of April, the outreaches continued into the community of Kuku. Two outreaches were held, assisting a total of 82 patients over the two days!

CHV assisting in distributing medication at the Kuku Outreach

On April 27, Sam (an MWCT nurse stationed at the Iltilal Health Centre), organized a supplementary immunization outreach targeting all children less than five years that have not completed their immunization schedule as per the Kenya Expanded Program on Immunization (KEPI). A total of 46 children were immunized on this outreach!

Community Health Volunteers (CHV) have been busy at the Iltilal Health Centre. During the month of April they gathered at the facility to receive new household registers to be orientated on log booking and the procedures of recording household health data in the community.

Iltilal Community Health Volunteers

The Community Health Volunteers in Olorika attended their quarterly forum in April. MWCT organized this forum and lunch for the CHVs, a total of 20 attended the event. Dr. Gabriel addressed the CHVs present on MWCT's aims and goals in environment, conservation, and health promotion.

And finally, in line with the MWCT health goal of supporting the delivery of quality healthcare to the community; 50 doses of intravenous ceftriaxone (broad spectrum antibiotic) and 50 tubes of eye ointment for the treatment of conjunctivities were purchased for the Iltilal Health Centre.

The efforts of the MWCT Health Team are spreading farther and wider everyday! Visit www.maasaiwilderness.org for more information!

Health Program Update - Outreaches, Dental Improvements & Project Osiligi

The Health Program has continually been extremely busy expanding its tremendous efforts across Kuku Group Ranch, especially during this past month of February!

On February 7, a Medical Outreach and Cervical Cancer Screening took place at Olorika. 26 patients attended the medical outreach for curative care, 7 received family planning, 13 children were immunized, 4 children were immunized, 4 women received antenatal care, and 56 children were dewormed! Further, 11 women attended the talk on women's cancer and family planning!

Sam and community health worker demonstrating self breast exams at Olorika Dispensary

On February 10, another Medical Outreach and Cervical Cancer Screening occurred at Kuku village. A total of 50 patients attended the outreach. Caroline, a Maasai nurse, facilitated a talk about women's cancer to an audience of 21 women. Also on this day, we donated a OneWorld Football to the children at Kuku Primary School!

Football donated to the children of Kuku Primary School

The start of 2014 commenced with a donation of a dental chair to the Iltilal Health Centre. The work to operationalize this chair started the first week of February with a visit by the District dentist Dr. Thuo, accompanied by the Loitokitok District Hospital Biomedical engineer Mr. Herman. They approved of the room where the chair would be stationed and gave a list of requirements including drainage, water supply, and electrical fittings that need to be installed. Currently, the water supply and drainage system work has been completed and we await the electrical components. We are very excited for this addition!

Gabriel with district dentist and biomedical engineer

The ongoing Project Osiligi, an income-generating project for the women of Kuku Group Ranch, has generated approximately $1350 in revenue for the women! The women from Kuku, Iltilal, Olorika, and Langata villages have collectively made 433 bracelets and 138 pairs of earrings for Campi ya Kanzi! This project is truly making a tremendous impact on these women! 

Beadwork artisans from Langata village

Health Program Update - Outreaches & Deliveries

The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust Health Program was very busy for the month of January!

Medical and Educational Outreaches continued across the Group Ranch. On January 13 an 27, Medical Outreaches took place at Kuku Primary School. 76 patients were seen and 24 immunizations were given, 7 family planning were distributed, and 14 women attended the antenatal clinic, and all of the children were dewormed at Kuku Primary School!

Students at Kuku School watch a video on proper nutrition

On January 17, a medical outreach took place in Oltiasika; where 15 patients were seen and deworming of children at the nearby school took place. An education session was also held for the community on the topic of family planning and cervical screening.

Oltiasika Health Workers and Gabriel teaching community about family planning and cervical cancer

Further, the health staff of Oltiasika Dispensary were happy to report that since the installation of the solar lights at the dispensary in September 2013, they have seen an increase in facility deliveries! What great news!

Oltiasika Dispensary with overhead lighting

Health Program Update - Medical and Education Outreaches

We have some great updates to share with you from our Health Program for the month of October. Medical outreaches continue throughout this month to various villages throughout Kuku Group Ranch.

On October 14, a medical outreach took place in Kuku - 64 patients were seen at this very busy community outreach. A Community Health Worker delivered a talk to those in attendance on family planning. This talk resulted in five clients requesting for contraceptives.

Kuku community health workers dispensing medications

Mothers and babies waiting for immunizations

Also on October 15, Lairumbe presented a talk on female genital cutting to 50 MWCT Rangers. The presentation was well received, with many inquisitive questions and comments from the Rangers.

A busy immunization clinic in Kuku

In light of the recent increase in teenage pregnancies which is a direct result of girls dropping out of school, MWCT has initiated a weekly school education program in Iltilal, as well as a monthly education program in Langata. On October 17, MWCT Health staff visited Iltilal Primary School and spoke to 70 girls in Class 6 and 7 about setting life goals. The next day, staff travelled to Langata Primary School to speak to 150 girls in Class 5, 6, 7, and 8.

School girls at Langata Primary write down their life goals

Health Update - Outreaches and Education Day

We would like to sincerely apologize for our delay in sharing the efforts of the trust for the past few weeks on this blog! However, there has still be plenty of activity within our programs, and the MWCT Health Program has been very busy this past month. The MWCT Health Staff accomplished four village outreach programs in the month of September to different communities within Kuku Group Ranch. These community outreaches are accompanied by MWCT Heath Staff, government health staff, as well as the community health workers.

Village members wait patiently for services provided in our outreaches

These community health outreaches continually aim to mobilize information to Maasai community members to create an understanding of the programs of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and the services provided within.

As an added outreach, MWCT Health staff took the wonderful opportunity to deworm 333 school children as they were all gathered in Olorika for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust Education Day. The MWCT Education Day is a day celebration that is hosted for the primary school located within Kuku Group Ranch that receives the highest top marks on the KCPE exams (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education).

Deworming pills are handed out to school children in Olorika

In other very exciting news for the MWCT Health Program, the Iltilal Health Centre received the most amount of child deliveries under skilled care at the health facility in the month of September. This is very exciting for our program, as it is the highest monthly total for this year! Furthermore, the proposed renovations in the Langata dispensary have now been completed. As a result of these renovations, a new room has been constructed that will now act as a post-delivery room, as well as serving double-purpose as a room for Dr. Gabriel to stay on his 3-day outreaches to this village.

Continued efforts in health outreaches to villages of Kuku, Olorika, and Oltiasika

Furthermore, we would like to share the following link that has displayed the MWCT Health Program efforts to utilize Medical Aid Films in the communities with the Kuku Group Ranch. Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust is featured on their website here: http://medicalaidfilms.org/working-in-the-maasai/

Health Update - Cancer Screenings

MWCT's Health Program recently hired a new Clinical Officer for Langata village named Emmanuel Wanyama, allowing us to greatly expand our services and keep the clinic open on weekends.  Since his arrival clinic visits have increased more than 30%, allowing us to help many more patients.  Thanks to this new flexibility, we recently offered cancer screenings in Langata for the first time to good success.

The district reproductive health officer discusses cancer screenings.

The District Reproductive Health Officer began the day by facilitating a community conservation about women's cancers, after which Sam (MWCT nurse) and Wanyama worked with the Ministry nurse to administer breast and cervical cancer screenings.  During this initial visit ten women were screened with no referrals, and the community was very thankful for this new service.

Women wait for cancer screenings in Kuku village.

Following this we held a second screening two weeks later in Kuku village, this time using our experience to plan more comprehensively for the event.  We brought our ambulance fully outfitted for the day, with supplies including a hospital bed and disinfecting bucket, and set up operations in the local Child Care Fund center.

Sam and the female government explain basic facts about types of cancer.

Because some women are uncomfortable with a male nurse performing the screenings, we arranged for a female government nurse from Loitokitok to accompany us and help for the day.  We again had a community discussion regarding cancers, then screened ten women for breast and cervical cancer, one of whom was referred for further testing.

MWCT ambulance loaded with supplies for our Kuku village screening.

Health Update - Expanded Outreaches and More

MWCT's Health Program has had a busy month on many fronts: strengthening our relationship with Kenya's Ministry of Health, showing health education videos on various topics, and expanding our community outreaches on Kuku Group Ranch to include new villages.  Throughout the year we plan to continue to strengthen our relationships with other organizations and maximize our ability to help the Maasai of Kuku.

Lena dispenses de-worming tablets to the children of Samai village.

To facilitate a better working relationship and keep an open channel of communication, Lena had a discussion with Dr. Kapkoni, from the District Ministry of Health, regarding some reflect community conflict with health professionals on the ranch.  Following the meeting we drafted a memorandum of understanding to be ratified by the area's community health committees, which will help to define the relationships and responsibilities of all groups in the complex system and ensure we can maximize our positive impact.

Sam assesses a patient during MWCT's Samai outreach.

We held two recent community outreaches to Kuku village, as well as our initial outreach to a small village nearby called Samai.  We noted during our first visit to Kuku last month that attendance had been steadily rising, and realized many patients here coming several kilometers from Samai to attend.  Therefore, during our next outreach day we spent the morning in Samai, then the afternoon in Kuku village -- and acheived a record turnout!

Lena records patient visits during our Kuku village outreach.

During the outreaches we immunized more than 50 infants, provided antenatal care to several pregnant women, distributed de-worming tablets to children at nearby schools in each village, showed videos on proper nutrition for children, mothers, and all community members, and assessed any other patient complaints.

Steve weighing a Maasai child at the Samai outreach.

Our Community Health Workers were instrumental in these outreaches, organizing and publicizing them as well as helping the day of, translating videos from Swahili to Maa (the Maasai language), and doing anything else that was asked of them.  Without their continued enthusiasm and support, we couldn't achieve nearly what we have thus far.

Health Update - School Outreaches, Sanitary Pads, and More!

Time for another update on MWCT's Health Program!  It's been a while since we've updated, but it's been a busy and exciting past few months.  We've continued our outreaches to schools all around Kuku Group Ranch, specifically primary schools in Iltilal, Kuku Village, Olorika, Inkisanjani, and Enkusero.  During these outreaches the schoolchildren are gathered together while Lena and Lairumbe give presentations on various health topics.

Lena instructs schoolgirls as to the proper use of sanitary pads.

Often we utilize the Swahili-based TeachAIDS materials on HIV/AIDS prevention, and discuss the effects of puberty, safe sexual practices, proper use of condoms, and more.  We also take the opportunity to dose all students with deworming medicine, protecting them from the harmful long-term effects of worms.  Finally, we discuss the use of cloth sanitary pads for the schoolgirls, and dispense sets of pads so that they can begin using them.

A school full of students closely follows one of MWCT's health presentations.

These cloth sanitary pads are available thanks to MWCT's partnership with a wonderful organization called Huru International.  The pads are sewn by volunteers in the United States to keep costs as low as possible, and then donated to a number of different countries throughout Africa.  MWCT also receives pad donations from another great organization, Pads For Africa.  MWCT asks girls to contribute 200 Kenyan shillings for a year's supply of pads, roughly half the initial cost of the pads.  By charging this small amount for the pads, we give the girls and their families something to invest in, so that they see the value in it.

More than 150 happy schoolgirls pose after receiving their new sanitary pads.

Now instead of staying home to avoid being embarrassed by the effects of puberty, the schoolgirls can confidently stay in school and attend year-round, receiving a better education while also living a healthier lifestyle.  We dispensed a year's supply of pads to more than 200 girls over the past few months, and plan to continue our efforts in the new year - with your help and donations, MWCT's Health Program will be better than ever in 2013.

A group of girls pose with MWCT employees after receiving pads.