Keep reading Sally’s blog below Sally is on her third day in Nairobi and her descriptions are required reading.
Well done Sally and team.
Sally Platt
Sally Platt one of the movers and shakers that made this mission happen is now in Nairobi.
Follow Sally and her work on the Mission to Kenya on her blog:
Charmaine White Rotary Club of Parkwood, Gold Coast, Queensland is on her way to Kenya.
Charmaine White (above) with Allen Richards President of Parkwood Rotary
Charmaine has left for Kenya for a two week stint to the Mathare Slums of Nairobi, Kenya as part of an Rotary International Medical mission. There are doctors, optometrists, nurses and dentists in the team which includes 8 Australian Rotarians and 70 volunteers from other parts of the World.
Over 400,000 people live in Mathare, with only 10 toilet blocks for the entire population. There is no electricity and no sewerage. Poor hygiene, nutrition and the cramped conditions are major causes of the spread of diseases such as AIDS. In fact, Africa will have 25 million orphans by 2010.
Mathare has 70% unemployment and the area is rife with violence and gangs.
36% of children die of malaria in their first year.
1.5 million orphans in Kenya at present., Every 10 minutes three people die of AIDS in Kenya.
There are schools, some of them have standing room only. School children receive one meal each day (at the end of the school day in an effort to keep them there for the whole day). For most children this will be their only meal. Many children do not attend school as they have to look after their younger siblings. Many of the orphans in the area do not eat every day.
International aid teams, such as the one Charmaine is joining, alleviate immediate health issues and try to educate for the future. Charmaine told us that these people have simple needs – food, shelter and life!
CONTACT: Eric Krystall, Rotary District HIV/Aids officer
+ 254 20 3003346, + 254 733 621597 (mobile), ekrystall”at”africaonline.co.ke
Sandra Prufer, Media Relations Europe/Africa,
+ 1 847 866-3208; Sandra.Prufer”at”rotary.org
Rotary volunteers lead international medical team to Kenya
Multi-specialty initiative provides preventive care to children in Nairobi slums still recovering from post-election violence
NAIROBI, Kenya (Sept. 18, 2008 ) — About 70 volunteers from a dozen countries will arrive in Kenya this month to provide preventive health care services to thousands of children in the poorest neighborhoods of Nairobi, a city still recovering from the post-election violence of December and January.
The international team includes health care professionals and non-medical volunteers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, India, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom and the United States. They include physicians, dentists, dental assistants, paramedics, registered nurses, optometrists and opticians. About two thirds of the volunteers are members of Rotary clubs.
Read more here:
Thankyou to Henty Rotary Club for purchasing an ORK!