Connecting with Colorado College Students
In December of last year, Colorado College student Wiktoria Grzech had the opportunity to visit Mumias and see what WOPLAH is working on in the community. After a 30+ hour journey from Argentina, Wiktoria arrived at Kisumu airport and was greeted by Edwin Wetoyi, an Ambassador of Hope and program coordinator for WOPLAH. They drove to Edwin’s home village where Wiktoria shared a delicious lunch of Kenyan specialty, ugali, with his family and community members.
After settling in and meeting the rest of the staff at the WOPLAH office, Edwin and Wiktoria went to Kakamega, the county's biggest city for a meeting at KANCO - a national organization focused on improving access to health programs, policy work, and advocacy related to HIV and AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, early child development, nutrition projects, vaccinations, and immunizations. There they attended feedback sessions related to HIV and AIDS. Apart from the KANCO staff, Wiktoria also got to meet Shamir - a team member at WOPLAH, who explained KANCO and WOPLAH's work to reach key populations such as sex workers and the LGBTQIA+ population. In fact, 18.2% of HIV cases in Kenya are among men who have sex with men (MSM) and 29.9% of HIV cases are within the female sex workers (FSW) population. The stigma and discrimination that those populations face make it more difficult for them to seek help; because of that, WOPLAH developed its key populations project in 2018 which now supports 1900 people. The project focuses on safe sex education, peer education, and discussions about testing and support such as counseling. They also provide key populations with condoms to prevent transmissions of STIs. At KANCO Wiktoria got to tour the facility and see the safe space where people with HIV and the key populations such as members of the LGBTQIA+ community and sex work community can spend the night, get help, or talk to people who are knowledgeable about support options.
The next day Edwin, Wiktoria, and a peer educator volunteer Chris visited WOPLAH's kitchen garden run by Mama Phassy, the director of the kitchen gardens project and one of three directors of WOPLAH. Currently, the combined kitchen garden plots provide nutritious food and income for 200 families and over 1400 individuals. The kitchen garden is situated in Mumias and is one of WOPLAH's main projects. The goal of the kitchen garden project is to increase overall nutrition and health status among orphans and vulnerable children along with people living with HIV and AIDS and their families, and other project beneficiaries. For many beneficiaries in the community food insecurity and lack of stable income are big issues, which combined with health issues pose a great threat to individuals', families', and the community’s well-being. Mama Phassy's garden produces multiple strains of potatoes and other nutritious vegetables, which are especially beneficial to pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and people
living with HIV and AIDS. It also has multiple bee houses and three fish ponds: one pond with tilapia and two with mudfish. Wiktoria helped install a net over the biggest of the ponds, the tilapia pond, to prevent bugs and leaves from falling into it. They also visited the livestock section of the farm where they saw poultry, goats, and cows. While they were visiting there were two governmental veterinary workers who came to treat a sick calf. Their service is free, with little to no wait time, and contributes to the sustainability of the farming business. Mama Phassy discussed her plan to plant more indigenous plants, set up a mushroom house, and use natural fertilizers such as manure and natural pesticides made from insect urine to produce organic foods. Products such as milk, eggs, seasonal produce, and fish are sold on a daily basis. The profit goes to buy medicine for beneficiaries of WOPLAH, and a portion of the fresh produce is given to families who are facing food insecurity.
A few days later Edwin and Wiktoria went to the Mumias Model Health Center for a conference with community health workers as well as elders who assist women with giving birth. They started with a celebratory dance in honor of all the amazing work the community health workers have done. Representatives talked about helping women who have been assaulted access resources, helping women give birth safely, and assisting pregnant and breastfeeding women to have healthy and safe pregnancies and the postpartum periods. Next, they heard from doctors who were promoting patients getting drugs from the hospital rather than markets as that can be riskier. Then the elders who support women through the birthing process asked for financial support in the form of stipends to aid in their transportation and the work they do. They also talked about the importance of proper nutrition for children below two years of age as those two years, to a large extent, determine the health of the child for the coming years.
The next day they went around and saw the poultry and goats gifted to a neighboring community by WOPLAH and another kitchen garden for which WOPLAH gave a loan. Then they sat down with the community where they meet on Tuesdays to do the village banking. During every meeting, they have two bags one is for small needs and is lent out with no interest and the other one is used to lend money through a microfinance scheme with a 1% interest. The funds and record book are kept in a box that requires three keys to be opened. Each of the keys and the box is held by a different person to ensure the safety of the funds. When a person is in need of a loan they ask the chair who discusses the proposal with other members of the council and then they decide whether to grant the loan. Usually, loans are granted unless someone hasn't paid their last loan back. Every Tuesday, members donate 20 Kenyan shillings to the smaller social fund and between 50 to 1000 Kenyan shillings to the bigger fund. People also have a chance to pay back previous loans during the meetings. The beneficiaries involved in the village banking program learn financial literacy skills and how to save to sustain themselves and their families through trainings held by the Youth Financial and Loan Development Officer. These beneficiaries are also encouraged to share what they learn with their families and community members to spread the culture of financial literacy and stability. Wiktoria had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about how the community supports orphans that lost their parents to HIV as well as children who are HIV positive. Wiktoria also learned that most of the members of the support group are women because they often get better results from the loans and are able to generate more income for their families. Giving these loans to women also often leads to more equitable households where the wife's decision matter as much or sometimes more than her husband's.
Edwin, Chris, and Wiktoria started the day off with a visit to the community health volunteer organization Eschaka which was set up in 2009 and currently has 10 members serving the community. They educate the local community on health issues, advocate and provide referrals, manage malaria cases and treatment for jiggers, provide screening for TB, and provide referrals for HIV and AIDS treatments. They make sure to visit at least 20 households a month and are involved in the village banking and poultry and goat rearing in partnership with WOPLAH.
