Health Program Update - Polio Campaign & Assisting the Disabled

We've got another Health Update from MWCT Health Director, Lena Koh! Following a successful trachoma campaign in October, the Ministry of Health issued a letter of thanks to MWCT for providing support in the form of health staff and transport.

Shortly after, the MOH launched a polio campaign from November 16-20th. The campaign involved going from house to house providing polio vaccine to children under 5 years of age. MWCT was integral in making the campaign a success.

Health Program Director Lena, giving a vaccination

In fact, in providing transport for the health staff to ensure the essential vaccine reaches children in the most remote areas of Kuku Group Ranch, Iltilal Health Center and Langata Dispensary are the only health facilities in the Loitokitok Region to surpass their target; Iltilal Health Center vaccinated 1401 children. Amazing!

Many children greatly benefitted from the outreaches of this campaign!

Further, a few months ago, during an outreach in Nchalai village with the health staff from Olorika, Dr. Waari treated Mosoni Nkalu, a physically and mentally disable child who was sick. It was noted that the child did not have any medical assistive device, such as a wheelchair.

Mosoni Nkalu at boma in Nchalai

An assessment by the physiotherapist in Loitokitok was required in order to obtain a wheelchair, however, the family could not afford to hire a car to take her there. MWCT brought the physiotherapist to Mosoni's boma so that an assessment could be completed and measurements taken.

Physiotherapist from Loitokitok hospital performing an assessment

We anticipate getting a wheelchair for Mosoni early next year!

Health Program Update - New Solar Lights and a New Bicycle

Solar lights have been installed at Olorika and Oltiasika dispensaries as a result of Lena's (MWCT Health Program Development Director) fundraising efforts and the Ian Hicks Foundation. We have made a short video capturing the thoughts of the health works on the installation of the lights. The community then slaughtered a goat to celebrate the exciting occasion.

You can find the video by clicking here.

Health workers at Olorika Dispensary with the new solar ights

Daniel at Olorika showing off the new lights!

Letter of appreciation from health workers at Olorika dispensary

We are also happy to announce that a new bicycle has been given to a community health worker from Langata. Shadrack walks for 8 kilometres to Langata dispensary every day to assist the other health workers. 

Shadrack very happy with his new bicycle!

Now, with his new bicycle, he is able to get to the hospital much faster. He repeatedly told the MWCT health staff that he will never be late again! We hope that it will further motivate Shadrack to continue to effectively assist the community through his efforts within our health program. 

Shadrack receiving his bicycle from Wanyama, MWCT's clinical officer in Lanagata

MWCT Ambulance Success Story!

Recently, here at MWCT, we had the opportunity to give a presentation to some special guests, hosted at the Chyulu Conservation and Research Center. Stories of our Conservation, Education, and Health Programs were shared and discussed throughout the afternoon.

Our Health Program Development Director, Lena Koh, shared a wonderful success story with those in attendance at the presentation in regards to our ambulance!

Our ambulance "Anna"

Our ambulance was donated to MWCT in 2012 by Anna Kulidjian. The unit was a tremendous addition to the Health Program, as has further allowed for expanded reaches of medical capabilities, and rapid transport of extremely sick patients which were tasks that were nearly impossible without the use of this vehicle. It has proved tremendous convenience for the Maasai in Kuku Group Ranch thus far.

It's uses became specifically crucial for one particular medical emergency that occurred last week. On October 16 at 4 p.m., a local Maasai woman was brought to the Iltilal Health Centre by her mother in law and traditional birth attendant. This pregnant woman was having contractions for the previous four hours in her home. Upon arriving to the Centre, MWCT medical staff did a physical exam, palpitations, and a vaginal exam (VE). Upon performing these exams, they realized that it was a cord presentation. This can occur during pregnancy when the umbilical cord descends before the fetus prior to delivery. It is a definite obstetrical emergency and requires a immediate emergency cesarian section - if a natural delivery were to take place, the baby would must likely suffer from hypoxia and it would be fatal).

Our ambulance was dispatched immediately and the MWCT Health team rushed to Loitokitok district hospital (over 50 km on dirt road and averages over and hour driving time). The ambulance, the team, and the woman made it to the hospital in record time (less than one hour, while driving through military road blocks with sirens on) - and the medical staff at the maternity unit were ready and on hand to receive the woman. The team worked together to prep the patient for surgery and then she was rushed into the theatre. The emergency c-section was performed. The baby had to receive resuscitation due to his severe distress, but he was successfully saved! Staff stated that if the surgery was delayed any longer, the baby would not have survived.

View of the inside of our ambulance

It is stories like this that are shared and further place tremendous importance on the support that is given to MWCT, and certainly in regards to the donation of our ambulance. It's services have continued to provide extraordinary emergency assistance to community members and we are very proud of this particular success story.

Our ambulance servicing many villages located within Kuku Group Ranch

Health Update - Outreaches and Visitors!

It's been a good month for the Health Program, with continued outreaches and education about the aims of our program aimed at helping the Maasai community understand how the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust functions and the different services available through our programs.

Lena and Sam prepare to see patients during a recent Health outreach.

We've also been thrilled to host a very important visitor for two weeks -- MWCT Development Coordinator  Kira Seibert was visiting from the United States!  As our lead publicity and development coordinator in America, this visit allowed her to get a much more personal, in-depth understanding of the aims and activities of the Trust.  After three weeks of Health outreaches, safaris, hikes in the Chyulus, meetings with Community Rangers, and much more she didn't even want to leave!

Kira seeing the Conservation Program's work close at hand.

This month in Oltiasika we also practiced some new techniques aimed at maximizing our impact in the short time we have available in each small community.  In addition to the regular seeing of patients by Sam and Felix, Lena spoke with Maasai about the importance of family planning  options and techniques while they were standing in line.  Furthermore, we're developing a plan to expand our Health outreach program by rotating our nurses around to the various dispensaries for a few days at a time, rather than just one or two days per month.  All of these improvements are designed to use MWCT's resources in more effective and efficient ways.

A child is examined during on of MWCT's Health outreaches.

Maasai Warrior Ageset Graduation Celebration

In early May MWCT had the great honor of witnessing a truly rare Maasai celebration, one that occurs only once every 15-18 years -- the graduation of a new age set into warriorhood.  The age set is a unique social structure found across East Africa in which Maasai of a similar age are grouped together.  They begin their warrior training together, and this year the most recent generation is graduating into morani.

A warrior carries the beautiful ceremonial horn that provided accompaniment to the singing and dancing.

The cerebration and ceremony last for four days, but we witnessed a special portion near the beginning in which the new warriors leave their previous boma (collection of households) and construct a new boma to live in for the duration of the ceremony.  There is also a ritual ceremony involving four white female cattle and one black male cow, seen in the photo below.

Warriors gather around the ceremonial cattle in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. 

After a short dance at the old boma the entire group walked around two kilometers to the new site, herding the five ceremonial calves and carrying the warrior group's flagpole.  This was followed by much singing and dancing by the warriors, which was quite the amazing spectacle.  The final part of the day's celebration involved starting a fire to signify the commencement of building the new boma.

Health Coordinator Lena Koh with Anne, a Maasai woman who does a lot of translating for the Trust.

In the end it was an amazing day, and one that almost no outsiders have ever been allowed to witness.  It is a testament to the partnership MWCT has built with the Maasai community of Kuku Group Ranch that we were allowed to view and record parts of the ceremony; we are very thankful for this.  Events like these are exactly the type of cultural heritage we're trying to help preserve, and it was gratifying to see it on such beautiful display.

Warriors gather around to start a fire at the new boma site.

Health Update - Donated Supplies, Langata, and More

MWCT's Health Program has been continuing its good work of late, with several exciting new developments.  Some of the best news we received recently was the donation of a large number of medical supplies!  Health Coordinator Lena Koh visited Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital while on holiday and spoke with officials in the biomedical engineering department about MWCT's mission, and they were happy to help in any way they could.

Assorted of donated medical supplies from Sunnybrook Hospital's Biomedical Engineering Department in New York.

Sunnybrook was extremely generous, offering MWCT anything we desired from their surplus and misordered equipment.  Lena brought back a full suitcase of much-needed supplies, including surgical instruments and trays, stethoscopes, resuscitators, scalpels, speculums, nebulizers, wound dressings, hand sanitizer, gloves, and more.  Finally, the hospital offered to continue their aid in the future, and we will be receiving more shipments of these extremely needed items.

Lena discussing a collaboration with MWCT's Health Program with employees at Sunnybrook Hospital.

In other news, our new staff member at the Langata Dispensary has continued to expand the clinic's services since he began working earlier this year.  As a Clinical Officer, Wanyama sees patients with varying complaints, offers vaccines to children from the area, assists with outreaches by MWCT's Health team, and much more.  In only a couple months of work he has already helped the government nurse provide much more care than in past quarters, and we're excited to have him aboard as part of the MWCT team.

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 - Community Outreaches and Health Workers

The past months have been exciting ones here at the MWCT Health Program, as we continue our outreaches to all the communities of Kuku Group Ranch.  Recently we've been able to visit Olorika, Kuku, Oltiasika, Dip, and Langata Villages.  Most villages we try to visit once per month, though in Kuku Village we aim for twice per month.

Lena meets with a group of CHWs in Langata Village.

During our outreaches we meet with community members and often provide limited medical services and examinations.  We set up an outpatient clinic and dispense deworming medicine to children, as well as offering antenatal care and immunization clinics.  In November we partnered with Kenya's Ministry of Public Health to immunize over 750 children against the measles, and our trachoma campaign in December reached more than 3,400 Maasai.

Oltiasika CHWs prepare for an outreach by organizing supplies.

Each region's Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an invaluable part of our outreaches, working with us before and during the day to ensure a successful event.  Before MWCT's staff arrives, they publicize the outreach throughout their communities, often going door-to-door to spread the news.  They also secure a meeting place, organize supplies, and alert us to any special needs.  At the event itself, they organize attendees, help with evaluations, and arrange for any necessary follow-up actions. 

Steve works with CHWs in Olorika to map bomas in their area using Google Earth.

We've also been using the outreaches to continue our mapping of bomas (household clusters) on Kuku, so that we have a better sense of where people live and how the CHWs can distribute their efforts to best reach  everyone.  The Community Health Workers really enjoy seeing their villages on Google Earth, and are able to quickly group and identify visible bomas.  By having one MWCT staff member work with the CHWs on this mapping while the others conduct the outreach, a single day's work can be extremely productive.  We plan to continue these successful community outreaches throughout the upcoming months, and continue to improve access to healthcare for all the Maasai of Kuku Group Ranch

Our nurse Sam administers immunizations to children in Dip Villlage.

Maasai Ceremony for Women's Group

In January MWCT had the opportunity to assist with a truly unique celebration that happened in Langata, on Kuku Group Ranch -- a ceremony celebrating the achievements of a local women's group.  Started by a local Maasai woman named Sylvia, the group focuses on a variety of women's issues, including forgoing the traditional Maasai female circumcision and improving literacy and education rates among girls.  Sylvia has been working with the young women of Langata for some time now, and came to MWCT for assistance with a ceremony to celebrate their achievements thus far.

A Maasai woman leads the chorus of mamas singing to their daughters and the other young women in attendance.

Traditionally education has been seen as much more important for Maasai males than for females, and very few girls have continued their educations past primary school.  Instead, they have been circumcised and often marry at young ages, providing their families with a source of income through dowries.  Furthermore, education is not seen as necessary to a girl's life, as they will simply become housewives and mothers.

A very large crowd of Maasai gathered for the celebration, many in bright, traditional Maasai clothing.

Sylvia and her women's group has sought to change this dynamic and improve the position of women in Maasai society, and so far it has been a very successful initiative.  Several of the girls have already entered secondary school, with more slated to do so next year.  Perhaps even more importantly, the Maasai are beginning to see the value of female education, and this new independence is allowing girls to do more with their lives than ever before.

Sylvia (back center) watches as the women's group performs a skit poking fun at the mannerisms of old Maasai men.

The event was a great success, and attended by a large number of the local Maasai.  It was held at a local nursery school on a Saturday, and MWCT helped with organizing the ceremony.  The girls gave speeches and performed a skit, the older Maasai women sang songs, there was a well-reasoned and civil debate about the place of women in Maasai society, and the oldest Maasai elders blessed everyone present.  From the youngest of children to the oldest of elders and everyone in between, it was a unique and exciting experience made possible by the MWCT team, Sylvia, and the efforts of her women's group.

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.

TeachAIDS Blogs About MWCT - Again!

More news from MWCT's Health Program coming soon, but first some more exciting news about expanding news of our efforts!  TeachAIDS, the fantastic organization who first blogged about collaborating with MWCT back in November, has written another blog post about our efforts and how we've been utilizing their materials to improve our Health outreaches and more effectively communicate health concepts to the Maasai.

Schoolchildren watch a TeachAIDS video and participate in a workshop made possible by the program.

TeachAIDS has developed a set of interactive and media-rich teaching applications to educate about the risks of HIV and AIDS.  However, what sets them apart from other organizations is that they produce these materials in Swahili, allowing us to communicate better with the large numbers of Maasai who speak much better Swahili than English.

In their latest blog post, TeachAIDS describes MWCT's use of its materials, and focuses on our work with girls and young women.  As our Health Program Co-Director Lena says, "The room was silent during the viewing as the girls were fully engaged with the TeachAIDS educational program [...] We are so thankful to the TeachAIDS team for developing these life-saving tools for our communities."

http://teachaids.org/blog/teachaids-empowers-girls-in-rural-kenya

Health Update - Sight for the Blind!

A very inspiring story today, one that has already touched many lives and has the potential to touch many more.  One afternoon in late October, a party of Campi ya Kanzi guests visited Iltilal village and its residents to volunteer with the Trust for an afternoon.  In speaking with MWCT doctor Dr. Edward Omete, ophthalmologist Pamela Thiene, here purely on vacation, volunteered to help at the clinic with any eye-related diseases she could for an afternoon.

Njeda and his grandmother on their way from Kuku Group Ranch to Nairobi.

Njeda, a two-year old Maasai child born to a fifteen year-old mother who abandoned him and living with his grandmother, was born blind thanks to bilateral congenital cataracts.  In the Western world, this is a simple problem easily solved by surgery, but on Kuku such access to healthcare is not available.  Inspired by Dr. Thiene's generosity and selflessness, MWCT volunteer Jessica Hardy and health coordinators Dr. Omete and Lena Koh began searching for a hospital to perform the operation.

Njeda waiting at Lion's SightFirst Eye Hospital in Nairobi for his surgery.

Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital in Nairobi was willing to help, and upon hearing about the situation offered to perform the operation for no charge.  Campi ya Kanzi donated the necessary funds for Njeda and his grandmother, Jessica, and Dr. Omete to travel to Nairobi for the procedure earlier this month, and it was a tremendous, heartbreakingly wonderful success.

Njeda at the hospital with eyes covered by bandages following the surgery.

Lions Hospital was instrumental in making this project work, and they have agreed to help more Maasai with eye problems at a reduced rate, even to the point of setting up a temporary clinic much closer to Kuku Group Ranch to save travel to Nairobi.  There are thousands of Maasai living with easily treatable eye problems; please visit this fundraising page to see how you can help.

The first light seen by this little boy's eyes in his whole life.

Terrified of what was happening to him but unable to see what it was, Njeda clung to his grandmother before the surgery.  Afterward, as his bandages were removed and he saw light with his eyes for the first time in his life, he smiled up at her and touched her cheek.  Driving back to his home in the bush, he stared in wonderment at the gorgeous scenery all around him.  This was truly a case of selfless giving, and a wonderful collaboration between Campi ya Kanzi, the Lions Hospital, and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. 

TeachAIDS Blogs About MWCT!

Exciting news on the publicity front for MWCT's Health Program - we're being featured and blogged about on TeachAIDS' website!  TeachAIDS is a fantastic organization we're proud to partner with; they are an interdisciplinary team of researchers in many fields working together to develop interactive and rich-media applications to promote the prevention of HIV/AIDS.  But what makes them even more special is that they produce these materials specifically to overcome social and cultural barriers - in MWCT's case, all other available materials are in English, but TeachAIDS' are in Swahili!

An HIV education presentation in a local village using TeachAIDS materials.

You can read more about our collaboration and the success we had this summer combining the educational materials with a community soccer tournament in TeachAIDS' blog post here:

http://teachaids.org/blog/sports-and-hiv-education-in-rural-kenya

Stay tuned for more updates on this wonderful organization we're proud to partner with, our ongoing use of these education materials, and the other great stuff currently going on with the Health Program!

Health Update - Community Outreaches and More

Over the past month MWCT's Health program has held some extremely successful community outreaches and presentations, reaching several hundred community members.  These talks have covered a wide range of topics, including the advantages of giving birth in health facilities, HIV/AIDS, women's and prostate cancer, and family planning, among others.  Although the Trust is based near Iltilal and the primary clinic is located there, these outreaches allow us to contact Maasai from all parts of Kuku Group Ranch and give them valuable information about their health and the services we offer.

Lena shows the women of Kuku village important health facts during a Community Outreach.

Our Community Health Workers have played extremely important roles in these outreaches.  A recent Kuku outreach saw more than 100 attendees, largely due to CHWs promoting and publicizing it and reaching out to individual households and bomas to boost attendance.  In early September we also held a forum for Traditional Birth Attendants in Kuku village.  Although the village is located 16 kilometres from the Iltilal Health Center, we stressed the benefits of a birth plan and encouraged the women to stay with friends or family close to Iltilal as they neared their delivery dates.

Eddie and our Community Health Workers also help with the outreaches across Kuku Group Ranch

And later in September, Lena traveled with district health nurse Mr. Wilson Chesum to the Kimana Health Centre, another facility in our district.  The visit enabled the Trust to observe the activities and methods there and learn best practices to bring back and make our health facilities even better to best serve the Maasai community.  It's been an exciting time recently, and we hope to keep reaching more patients, learning, and improving every day!