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Personal Stories
School Health Club Patron Teaches Girls to Say No to FGM/C and CEFM
“Know your worth”: A primary school teacher is teaching nomadic girls how to stand up for themselves and say no to FGM/C and CEFM.
Dolphine Akinyi is a 30 years old Kenyan teacher at Hawesha Girl Primary School, located in Sololo, Marsabit County. When she took her post three years ago in the Northern arid part of Kenya, she believed she would face similar challenges as her colleagues living in other rural areas: high level of poverty, near-absence of governmental infrastructures, lack of teaching resources and materials, high pupil-teacher ratio Read More -
Personal Stories
One Woman’s Journey – Nurto’s Story
Before finding treatment through the Amref Health Africa Safe Motherhood Project, Nurto suffered with obstetric fistula for seven years after the birth of her first born in 2012. When she was only 21 years old, Nurto experienced a wrenching, prolonged labour at a local hospital in rural Garissa. After delivering her child, she found herself at the lowest point of her life. She was leaking urine and faeces uncontrollably, alongside other unpleasant complications that included back pain. Her condition affected her livelihood. Due to the pain she was experiencing, doing any type of labou
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Personal Stories
Here’s to a Second Chance – Zahara’s Story
Zahara, a 35-year-old resident of Bulla Takwa, Garissa County is a mother of four. In 2018, Zahara was pregnant with her fifth child. Her happiness was short-lived as she suffered a miscarriage, and she was diagnosed with obstetric fistula. “After I lost my baby, my whole world shattered and I did not want to live anymore. I felt sharp pains and was leaking urine. I thought it was normal after the miscarriage. Later, the doctors revealed to me that I had fistula, which I did not know and had never heard of.” Unable to do any type of house chores, her husband supported and stood by he
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Personal Stories
From the Streets to the International Music Scene: Papillon’s Story
Hailing from a humble background in a small village in Embu County, Martin Murimi who goes by the stage name ‘Papillon’ endured a hard early life living on the streets. With the support of Amref Health Africa’s Child in Need Project, he found salvation in music and art. His journey started 27 years ago, growing up in a family of six. “I was brought up by my mother and life was good until I decided to join my father in Nairobi,” he said. In the city, things took a turn for the worse. He lived with his father and stepmother and after sometime, he moved out with nowhere to seek
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News
Kenya Health Forum 2019: Partnering for Universal Health Coverage
Amref Health Africa in Kenya and other health stakeholders were ably represented at the 2019 Kenya Health Forum convened by the Ministry of Health on 14 and 15 August. Held against the backdrop of a series of conversations and processes of national dialogue on Universal Health Coverage and under the theme ‘Partnering for UHC: Delivering affordable quality healthcare for all,’ the two-day forum brought together stakeholders who included national and county governments, development partners, private sector and other non-state actors t
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News
Dream Becoming A Reality
The residents of Kyukuni Village, Voo Kyamatu Ward, Kitui County had challenges in accessing water before the intervention of the Amref Health Africa Kitui WASH Project. Residents would trek for over 15km in search of water, a situation that not only affected the time women spent doing other economic activities, but also affected school enrolment and attendance among school going children. According to the Project Officer George Wambua, there were shallow aquifers which were an alternative source of water, but the residents believed that water from this source would only be enough for house
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Personal Stories
Restoring Dignity: A Fistula Surgeon’s Perspective
Dr Anthony Wanjala, 35, is an Obstetrician-Gynaecologist, Fistula Surgeon and Head of the Department of Reproductive Health at Kapenguria County Teaching and Referral Hospital, in West Pokot County. He describes himself as a medical doctor with immense passion for maternal health and seeks to have women’s reproductive health rights prioritised and promoted. Having served as a practicing surgeon for seven years now, his motivation and mentorship was drawn from gynaecologists Dr Sarah Cichowski and Dr Kays Muruka as well as expert Fistula Surgeon, Dr Mabeya. “My most fulfilling mom
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Personal Stories
Samburu Muslim Women Embrace Cervical Cancer Screening
Article by USAID/Afya Timiza Project “Despite the lack of knowledge, fears and misperceptions relating to medical examination, discomfort with male health workers and limited spousal approval; community awareness on reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health through sensitisations done by Sheikhs and Imams is saving the lives of Muslim women in Samburu County.” Sheikh Ahmed Medo, Chairman of the Samburu Supreme Muslim Council of Kenya. Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Kenya after infectious and cardiovascular diseases. In 20
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Personal Stories
Moran Protecting His Community from Harmful Cultural Practices
Whether they find their spouse through arranged marriage like their parents, or on their own, morans (warriors) in the Samburu community are intransigent about one criterion for their future bride: she needs to be “cut”. The cut, also known as Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C), is a highly prevalent cultural practice within the Samburu, a nomadic pastoralist group living in Northern Kenya, with prevalence rate more than four times higher than the national average (90%1 compared to 21%). These clans consider FGM/C a crucial rite of passage to womanhood and have
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Personal Stories
I No Longer Cut Girls: How a Circumciser Changed Her Mind About FGM/C
Doko Gutu, 54, is a former traditional circumciser from the Gabbra Community living in Maikona, Marsabit County, Northern Kenya. For more than 30 years, she performed female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) on girls as young as seven. That was her only source of income, earning her $10 per girl, which was crucial for her survival in a region where the poverty rate is at 42.2%1. Since the practice has been outlawed in Kenya in 2011, Marsabit traditional circumcisers hide to avoid jail but the impact of their work is undisputable: 81% of the women aged 15–49 in the area have been cut by
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