Health Update - Tetanus Campaign

We would love to share a brief, but exciting new update for the MWCT Health Program which occurred in September of 2013. On September 13-19, the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust supported the Ministry of Health Tetanus Campaign by arranging a series of outreaches.

This campaign aimed to support women that are at a reproductive age - and are therefor more susceptible to the tetanus disease. Because this is a very fatal disease, the importance of immunization was emphasized through these outreaches as it is preventable with provided immunizations. MWCT Health Staff complied with the campaign by ensuring the message of the importance of this immunization was communicated.  

A local woman receives a tetanus immunization

This Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Campaign was launched by the Kenya Ministry of Health to ensure a commitment to the global goal of controlling, eliminating, and eradicating vaccine-preventable diseases in Kenya.   

School girls queue to receive immunizations

MWCT organized three health outreaches to the villages of Kuku, Samai, and Enkusero to ensure that the communities living far away from the campaign would still receive the benefits that the campaign provided. As a result of this, Iltilal Health Centre exceeded it's target by 18%, which was 175 women above the targeted number.

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 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 - New Village Outreach Program!

Sam giving a talk on cervical cancer during an Oltiasika outreach.

MWCT's Health Program has stayed busy since we last posted -- lots of exciting work going on all over Kuku Group Ranch!  In the months after the rainy season we've made great progress with our village outreaches, having successful ones each month and starting a new 3-day outreach program in which our nurse Sam and lab technician Felix spend 3 days each month at our 2 primary clinics around Kuku Group Ranch that don't have regular MWCT staffing.

Sam explains a self-breast exam to women in Oltiasika while government nurse Peter demonstrates.

During their 3 days at each clinic they provide cancer screenings for women in the area, family planning sessions, immunizations for children, lab work and testing, and shorter outreaches to smaller surrounding villages with no health facilities at all.  They also give talks to the community on the importance of testing, hygiene, deworming for children, and many other topics.  Finally, they work with the local Community Health Workers to ensure the care provided during the rest of the month is as good as possible.

Sam and Felix with Olorika Community Health Worker Daniel.

We initiated this program in June by sending Sam and Felix to both Olorika and Oltiasika for 3 days each; it was very well received by the communities.  In addition to performing operations and testing, Sam made a point to teach the government nurses how to perform the tasks and they did very well.

Olorika CHW Daniel checking in on the chickens.

In Olorika we also helped with the Community Health Workers' income-generating project, raising chickens.  The money generated by selling the chickens will help purchase small supplies to allow the CHWs to be as useful as possible. Every day we're working to make MWCT more useful to the surrounding Maasai community!

Community Ranger News

Time for another Conservation Program update from the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust!  This week we'd like to share our pride at some of the recent accomplishments of our Community Rangers team and their recent activities.  It's been a great few months for the Ranger program and we're excited for all the great work they've been doing.

Head Ranger Muterian Ntanin leads his fellow commanders on parade at Manyani.

First a big congratulations to our Head Ranger, Operations Commander Muterian Ntanin.  Muterian recently completed his Company Commanders Training Course at the Kenya Wildlife Services Law Enforcement Academy in Manyani.  It's an honor just to be selected to participate in the training course, but Muterian not only did that but finished #3 in a class of 28 trainees.  The skills and leadership training he received at Manyani are invaluable, and his accomplishments and leadership have already inspired the rest of our Rangers to work hard and continue to improve.

A unit of MWCT Community Rangers standing proud at attention.

Our Rangers have also been increasing their patrol distances and making arrests more frequently, both of which are instrumental in deterring illegal activity around the area.  Our Rangers recently rescued an elephant from poachers and arrested three of them; later in the week they arrested four more poachers for illegally killing animals for sale as bush meat.  These arrested poachers are turned over to the Kenya Wildlife Services authorities, where they will face jail sentences and fine that were recently made much stiffer by the Kenyan parliament.  

The Gordon family from Chicago visited the Trust and brought vital supply donations.

Finally, we want to stress again the importance of MWCT's relationship with tourism partner Campi ya Kanzi to helping our programs grow and succeed.  Recently the Gordon family, tourists on holiday at Campi ya Kanzi, brought with them assorted supplies to donate to our Rangers, including two pairs of binoculars and a camera.  These donations are essential to the program's success; other needed items include GPS units, backpacks, water bottles, and rechargeable batteries.

An Inspiring Elephant Story

Hello from the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust Headquarters in the bush!  We have a few recent stories about animals on the ranch and MWCT's Conservation Program, including this great news.  In mid-July we had an experience which was incredibly inspiring and heartening, and which showed that the Maasai community has really bought into our conservation efforts.  

Elephants crossing a road on Kuku Group Ranch in front of a Campi ya Kanzi safari car. 

The story begins on a slightly sad note, which is that one of the older wild elephants on the ranch took ill and died.  In one sense this is sad, but on the other hand it means it was able to live a long, full life and die of natural causes - an admirable fate for any large African mammal in these trying times of poaching.  The elephant was noticed by two young Maasai boys herding cattle; they alerted their fathers that an elephant had died.

MWCT's Community Rangers holding the ivory tusks after careful removal.

On receiving this news, the fathers came straight to MWCT Headquarters and notified our Conservation Coordinators of the death.  This was particularly wonderful, as the fathers could just as easily have gone to harvest the ivory and sell it to poachers for a substantial fee.  Upon hearing about the elephant, we dispatched several of our Community Rangers to remove the tusks and give them to Kenya Wildlife Services as required by law, so as to keep the ivory away from poachers and off the black market that has fueled so many elephant kills in recent decades. 

MWCT Assistant Commander Narua gives one of the boys two shukas a reward for his help.

In return for their commendable actions, we held a ceremony at the local school in which we honored the actions of the shepherd boys and their fathers in front of their peers.  One of the boys, a student, received a full new school uniform, and the other received two new shukas to wear around the village and while herding.  Our Head Ranger Muterian also spoke with the other students about how important their tips can be, as most schoolchildren act as herders and roam the bush during weekends and school holidays.

MWCT Head Ranger Muterian speaks to students on the importance of conservation and MWCT.

It was truly a moving occasion to see the Maasai community take such pride in doing the right thing to conserve their natural resources and biodiversity, especially when it would have been so easy to sell the information to poachers.  Events like these show that MWCT is truly making a difference in the lives of the Maasai and making substantial progress in helping locals to view their animals and land as valuable treasures.

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.