Empower Communities Through Healthcare & Education

It has been a busy few months for Moyo as our delivery of healthcare and education to remote communities continues. Our outreaches widen access to critical care and diagnosis and offer education that goes beyond the normal curriculum - covering everything from menstural health and hygiene to nutrition. Below are just a few of the things that Moyo has been doing so far this year. 

One of our healthcare outreaches was a collaboration between the Beyond Zero Campaign, Kenya Defense Force, and Mugie Conservancy. There are many oganizations that want to help these remote communities but they don't have a relationship with the community members and/or don't speak the tribal language. This partnership gave an in-road for Beyond Zero and KDF via our relationships with the Lera and Donyowiro communities, while giving us more resources and person-power so that we could help more people. This clinic saw nearly 400 patients! Patients were there for anything from breast cancer screenings, immunizations, deworming and antenatal care, family planning, and nutritional assessment, support, and referrals. 

During another outreach clinic, in partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, Moyo and Mugie helped determine the nutritional wellness of children between 6 months and 5 years. Those with moderate to severe acute malnutrition were referred to clinic which was able to provide a longer term source of supplementary nutrition. Those with mild cases were able to be treated at the time and sent home with supplies to help the children regain a nutritional foothold. 

Since our early beginings, Moyo has taken a multi-pronged approach to helping our community. Not just providing treatment, but also, and arguable more importantly, helping to try and prevent the problem in the first place.

With healthcare, for instance, we don't want to simply provide a nutrition supplement to a malnourished child, we want to help identify the cause of their malnutrition. In this example, more often than not, this is because impovershed parents (or parent) cannot afford to buy the proper food or a sufficient amount of the proper food because they have one income and six children. Moyo is striving to educate and empower people to consciously and thoughtfully make the choice to have a child  by providing information and family planning.

Two incomes are usually better than one, so we have been working on an economic empowerment project - women of the local community creating and selling reusable menstrual pads. These women are creating a product that is truly useful for the community and helps combat Period Poverty. 

We feel that with education comes empowerment. We are proud to be supporting twelve students at school this term - our youngest scholar is in primary school and our oldest is in teaching college. As these students graduate from school they have higher self-esteem, a deeper sense of national unity and cooperation, a brighter career outlook (which means potential to bring their families out of poverty and make educated and empowered choices for their own lives).  

Links:

• Our Website

As long-time followers of Moyo will know, we have been on a quest to help end 'Period Poverty' by providing community healthcare services. 'Period Poverty' encompasses the educational and economic inequity that directly or indirectly results from menstruation. Often this is due to a girl missing school because of either the social stigma (menstruating females are considered unclean) attached to menstruation or an absence of the supplies she needs to manage it (and the shame that accompanies that). Different statistics abound and it's hard to know exactly what the count is, but most research agrees that about 40% of girls in rural Kenyan communities will miss 20% of school days each year. This absenteeism often means that girls will score lower on tests, fall behind, or drop out altogether. When a girl finishes secondary school she is less likely to experience child marriage, unplanned pregnancy, and domestic abuse. Studies show that educated girls and women are more likely to have fewer and healthier children, and these children are in turn, more likely to get an education that propels them out of poverty. It is a truly virtuous cycle.

So, with all that said, I am beyond excited to announce that we are collaborating with the Laikipia North Technical College to produce reusable menstrual pads! The Moyo Team at Mugie, Donna, Jedidah, and Anne, have purchased the materials for the tech college and provided designs and prototypes and now anxiously await the first batch of pads. Once the pads arrive, they will pack the packs (we'll include both day and night pads) and include a copy of a Period Tracker with menstrual health and hygiene information on it. We will send enough complete packs back to the tech college for everyone involved in the production and the rest we will have for distribution at outreach clinics and mentorship gatherings, as well as our own Healthy Kids at Mugie.

These reusable pads are a sustainable solution for girls - they are long-lasting (just wash the liner!) and they are not made with single-use materials. Because they come with a Period Tracker and information sheet, they also provide girls with basic information that they may otherwise not get. This is a project that epitomizes the intersectionality of healthcare + education + empowerment + environmental awareness. Stay tuned for updates!

Links:

• Our website!