Greetings! My name is Alyssa Lowe. I am a public health volunteer working for the American organization Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is a US federal government organization started by President John F. Kennedy in the early 60s. Peace Corps sends Americans to developing countries all over the world to promote understanding and friendship. We have three main goals. Goal one is to provide education and skills training. Goal two is to increase Americans’ awareness of other peoples and countries. Similarly, the third goal is to increase the awareness of people from developing countries of America and Americans.

I have been living in Kenya for 15 months now, and have been working with Kirongo Christian Integrated Community Project for 13 of those months. During my time at Kirongo I have worked with people of all ages and backgrounds on developing a public health program for the project. The project has come a long way in the last year, and is now in a transition period. We are moving out of our training phase and into a phase of practical implementation. In order to do this, we are applying for a grant from the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). The grant would help us to begin three public health projects. It’s a very exciting time!

I am currently working with five different groups each with different goals and objectives. However, our fundamental focuses are similar: to improve the health and living standard of our members and our community. Of course there are a myriad of ways to do this.

One of my groups is made up of community health workers (CHWs) who are trained in home-based care (HBC), which is similar to Hospice Care for the terminally ill. I trained the group for 6 months on general public health, and then on basic nursing care for HIV positive people for 4 months. The group is currently working on registering with the Ministry of Social Services as well as learning the basics of proposal writing. The group will be expected to assist in the research and preparation of the AMREF proposal.

I have a second group of community health workers whom I also trained for 6 months in general public health. Since their graduation from that training, the group has been trying their hand at community outreach and education. The group is now working toward registration with the Ministry of Social Services. They are organizing an income-generating project, which will supplement their incomes and offer some sort of compensation for all the volunteer work they do, as well as improve the health of our community. The group will sell nutritious flour that is proven to considerably improve the health of people with HIV/AIDS, malnourished children, pregnant women, the sick and the elderly. The group also intends to sell two types of water purifying solutions to community members.

On Tuesdays I meet with a group of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) or midwives. This group has exceeded all our expectations and subsequently has become one of the project’s strongest groups. The group meets weekly to discuss their work. We begin with a topic such as risk signs in pregnant women; nutrition; or hygiene; and our discussion goes from there. The group desperately needs resources to ensure the health of their clients, but finding them is difficult. The ministry of health has discontinued their work with midwives. Most NGOs have not expanded to include midwives in their work. Those who do work with midwives are working in areas with the country’s most severe cases of infant mortality such as in northeastern Kenya. But we have made a contact at the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Kisumu. The CDC has a program for prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and malaria, and has agreed to give us some training.

The midwives had been raising money for supplies, and are now collecting money for uniforms and badges. Although neither uniforms nor badges are particularly necessary, the prestige they will glean from being part of a recognizable, trained group is doing great things for their confidence and morale. Some of my colleagues in development look down on raising funds for such “unnecessary” items; but as far as I see it, those uniforms and badges will do a great deal for these women and for their group. Development is also about developing the individual, about creating a sense of pride and empowerment.

I also work with a group of local religious leaders. The group has taken a long time to get off the ground but is finally organized and productive. The group wants to improve their congregations’ awareness and knowledge of communicable diseases. Therefore, we are implementing a partnership between our trained community health workers and the religious leaders. The community health worker will visit his/her partner congregation regularly to lecture on and discuss public health issues. The religious leaders are currently receiving training on small business management and proposal writing. The group hopes to open a feed store some time in the future that will supplement their income as well as assist their congregations, many of which are doing agricultural projects. In addition we plan to organize training for their congregations on income generating projects like bee keeping and soap making.

Our youth group is also in a transitional phase. I have trained them on HIV prevention and some life skills (decision making, goal setting, etc). They write and perform dramas based on the topics we discuss in class. Starting next month, the group will be visiting secondary schools in the area to perform their dramas and to guide discussion groups. We also hope to have the group trained in a marketable skill. I have been in touch with some people in the US who sell fly fishing ties made by groups in Kenya. We hope to take advantage of this lucrative, international business.

We recently hosted a big public health fair. All of the groups with whom I work participated (about 50 people). We had an audience of about 300. We had drama, singing, poetry, dancing, health education—including topics ranging from nutrition to child-care and TB to family planning—agricultural demonstrations—including sack gardening, compost building, animal husbandry and horticulture. We even got an HIV/AIDS counselor to join us for the day to provide information and guidance to those who were interested. We had participants involved who are as young as 5 years old as well as those in their 70s. I think the celebration reflects the Kirongo public health programme’s mission. Ours is a holistic approach to building a healthy, healing community participated in by all members of the community.

Alyssa Lowe

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