Mayo GP tells how fridges are saving lives in Kenya
A Mayo GP has witnessed the impact of Irish NGOs 20-year commitment to long-term positive change in western Kenya as its health, education and economic empowerment programmes build up sustainable communities in the face of ongoing adversity for the country.
Dr. Noreen Lineen Curtis, Achill, has spent time with Brighter Communities Worldwide in western Kenya, seeing first-hand the impact of the charity’s work and value of its approach of strengthening communities by giving them the tools they need to build themselves up.
“As a GP working in a busy rural community it is hard to believe that something as small and simple as a fridge could save lives. But that is exactly the case at the Brighter Communities Worldwide Laliat Community Unit’s mother and baby clinic.
"The simple installation of a fridge means that vaccinations can be stored and immunisation clinics run regularly to keep babies and children healthy. This is a hugely positive development in a hard-to-reach community with high maternal and infant mortality rates.”
As Brighter Communities Worldwide celebrates its 20th anniversary and its inclusion in this year’s Giving Tuesday (November 29), Dr. Lineen Curtis recalls her 2019 visit to a country that, at times, reminded her of Achill.
“At a time when Kenya is in the news again due to devastating drought and famine, I am reminded of my trip there just before Covid, when I was invited to be part of a team heading to Kenya to explore the development of a mutually beneficial educational link between our countries.
"Education is key in all that Brighter Communities Worldwide does, from healthcare projects to water projects to 'girls for girls' programmes, to building indoor smokeless stoves and the Alternative Rites of Passage programme, which is reducing the incidence of female genital mutilation."
Brighter Communities Worldwide’s community education and healthcare outreach programmes train community health volunteers, who then work within their communities to pass on their knowledge on the importance of healthcare for pregnant women and immunisation for babies.
In many communities, maternal death rates are high due to lack of access to antenatal care, distance from appropriate healthcare and lack of awareness and education on the potential complications of pregnancy.
In hard-to-reach areas, the lack of proximity to antenatal clinics mean that many women go without healthcare during their pregnancies, leading to undetected complications and in some cases, tragically, death.
At the hospital in Londiani, Dr. Lineen Curtis visited a new maternal shelter, which allows women to stay in the hospital grounds in the last days of their pregnancy so that they can be monitored and avoid a long journey when their labour starts.
This initiative, along with improved education, has reduced the local maternal mortality rate.
Brighter Communities Worldwide trains community health volunteers like 43-year-old Grace Mutai, who then work in their communities to create awareness on the importance of healthcare and immunisation.
Home births were common but education around the risks in communities with little access to antenatal care, clean water, sanitation and transport and the availability of facilities like the maternal shelter has meant that more mothers are choosing hospital birth.
Grace said: “We now have fully immunised children and healthy mothers and babies.”
Dr. Lineen Curtis also visit Baraka Agricultural College in Mola, not far from Londiani.
There, students can learn everything about agriculture, from running the smallest homestead economically and sustainably to growing crops commercially.
“Sustainability is at the centre of Brighter Communities Worldwide’s work – from their commitment to strengthening communities by giving them the tools they need to build themselves up, to environmentally sustainable initiatives.
"I spent a night in a rural village called Ndubusat and stayed in a solar-powered campsite, part of a new departure by the charity to encourage tourism in the area.
"We also visited a maternal health clinic that has been built there to provide safe deliveries for those in very remote locations, and met Joyce, who told us about a group of women who have established their own coffee company, growing the beans and having them dried, ground and packaged for sale locally.
"This economic empowerment enterprise is going from strength to strength and is enabling more families to send their children to school.
“I am really urging the people of Mayo to consider giving a little to Brighter Communities Worldwide on Tuesday, November 29, for ‘Giving Tuesday’ when the more donations the charity raises in 24 hours the more money they earn from a $ 1.2 million bonus fund from Global Giving."
Maria Kidney, who co-founded Brighter Communities Worldwide in 2002, stated that volunteers like Noreen are key to the work of the charity.
“The fact that we have built so many long term relationships with teams of volunteers it truly testament to our model of development. Our way has always been to work in partnership with people, both in Kenya and with the people who want to volunteer with us.
"Volunteers are our lifeblood, they give their time, their energy, their enthusiasm and their generosity is a joy to experience.
“The volunteers from Mayo have been wonderful to us over the years and we have built long term friendships with them."
Maria said the communities of Londiani are incredibly responsive to the programmes offered by Brighter Communities Worldwide and take pride in making them their own.
“We have made enormous strides in our 20 years, but the terrain is so vast and the challenges are so wide that it is absolutely crucial that the people themselves are empowered to build up their own resources.
"True independence means they have financial independence – this is the ultimate aim for us and that comes through education, life skills and, ultimately, resilience.
“A lot of attention right now is on disaster relief – and rightly so – drought and famine bring untold devastation that is difficult for us to fathom.
"The ripple effects are felt throughout Kenya, even in areas that are not directly affected.
"Food instability and rising prices in areas already ravaged by poverty, and for families living without the basics of water, electricity, health care and a reliable income are devastating.
"These families have no back up, no savings, no assistance packages – just their own will to carry on and do the best they can and right now the communities we work with across Kericho County are struggling in so many ways.
"That is why we are building all the time - building layer upon layer of knowledge and resilience, acutely mindful that resilient people build resilient, confident communities.”
Visit https://www.brightercommunities.org/ for more information about the charity.