Page 9 - AIC KIJABE MNCHP ANNUAL REPORT II

DIRECTOR’S SUMMARY

What a joy to share with you what God is doing “beyond the walls” of Kijabe Hospital.
Maternal Newborn Community Health exists to expand the reach of Kijabe Hospital’s
mission and vision. Our work is in multiple parts of Kenya, from arid regions in Garissa

and Tana River to peri-urban flower farm slums in Naivasha, from pastoralist communities
in Maasai land, to rural agrarian areas.

This year we saw the fruits of SALT training. SALT training helps CHVs develop problem

solving skills and change their mindset away from one of donor dependency. We saw
results from Bula Pamoja (in Garissa County) to Kihoto (Naivasha informal settlements
near the flower farms). SALT challenged and encouraged CHVs to take action using what
they have in their hands. The actions ranged from re-starting a local school using local

resources. Formerly funded by an NGO who pulled out, there are now parents taking
initiative. Parents set a small fee and found someone who has a class 8 education to help
teach reading and writing, and parents rotate cooking a lunch. All this in an area so remote
with no government posted teacher. In other areas we saw SALT result in two communities

where CHVs invested in addressing the local alcohol and drug use problem. They changed
their mindset from shunning the motorcycle(boda boda) riders and push cart day laborers
who smoke marijuana and abuse local brew to engaging them in conversations, helping
them re-adjust their lifestyles, and supporting to focus on their business and not drugs.

One “convert” helped arrange a local sting operation to shut down a local brew distillery.

Even as SALT continues, so does our work on training Maternal Newborn Community
Health. We saw two new community health units birthed in Tana River. We were able

to drive quality improvement with our short course titled, “Improving Data Quality for
Community Health: Troubleshooting implementation of MOH 513” that had representatives
from Garissa, Tana River, Nakuru, and Nyandarua Counties.

As we look to new opportunities, we rejoice is seeing all that God has done in 2019 in
bringing health and hope to the communities. As you will see in much greater detail
in the 2019 annual report, God has been good. We give Him thanks.