Sunday 5 October 2014

Daraja - the best day ever!!!

September the 12th.

Jambo! Habari gani?

Talking about the community health, we found out that, after 2006 Kenya, to avoid preventable deaths due to lack of knowledge or health education, introduced a new strategy by creating groups of community health workers. These people aren't exactly educated other than 2 weeks courses in first aid and minor information about infection, fever and child nutrition. On the other hand their work has a big positive impact on the community's health on minimising the rate of preventable deaths. They are volunteers and it is amazing the engagement these people put in their work. And the reason is that they want to help their community and indirectly helping them self and their families.
In Daraja there is a group of 20 community workers and they have to visit an average of about 10 families in a week, which live miles apart. These people have families and jobs on their own to take care of but they still manage to find the time to help others and I find that inspirational.
We were so lucky to follow such a worker on his rounds to 2-3 families. They walk around with a register where they mark what they do, like: mothers with newborns counselled on exclusive breast feeding, children under 1 year referred to immunization, children under 5 referred for growth monitoring, cases of fever identified and managed, cases of diarrhea managed, elderly people referred for health check-ups, Tuberculosis defaulters traced and referred, households visited for health education and so on.
Looking at this from a Danish perspective, we could have a huge debate on pros and cons of this health care strategy but I refuse to go there. The idea is that it works for the rural Kenya and it is amazing what a 2 week trainings course in basic hygiene, nutrition and health issues can do for an entire community. 
 
Visiting a local family
 
In the evening, we arranged a game drive just half an hour outside Daraja. There were no lions to be seen that day, but we've definitely seen giraffes, antelopes, zebras, elephants, baboons and giselles. It was an amazing ride and the views were breathtaking. I don't believe that there is something more relaxing than watching the silhouettes of an elephant family in the twilight of the dawn. You feel small and insignificant in this enormous and calm scenery, but at the same time I've never lived a more tranquil and relaxing moment, boarding on utopic happiness.

Find the elephant...

and the giraffe...

By the way the term "bumpy road" was invented on Kenyan roads.