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 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.