Fighting HIV/AIDS and Poverty
Improving Education and Healthcare

Program Updates December 2003

On August 12th, 2003, the Bill Selke Memorial Clinic opened its doors and six local community members in Kabula were treated for malaria. While this may not sound like a major accomplishment to some, it represents a significant achievement for all of us. Local health care workers run the daily operations of the clinic and are assisted by volunteers from abroad. On October 20th, 2003 the clinic began offering HIV testing, with pre and post-test counseling. Plans are being made to eventually offer retroviral treatment for HIV+ individuals. In November, the clinic obtained recognition from the Kenyan Ministry of Health as an official site for the government’s immunization program. The District Medical Officer of Health is working with us to coordinate a home-based care program for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Read more ...

Program Updates August 13th, 2003

The Bill Selke Memorial Clinic in Kabula finally opened on August 12th, 2003. Six local residents were diagnosed and treated for malaria.

Program Updates May 21st, 2003

Here are recent happenings on-the-ground in Kenya:

    1. Clinic: We are now just weeks away (really) from opening the Bill Selke Memorial Clinic. I wired $5,000 in March to allow us to bring electricity from the main road to the clinic. This should be completed in the next two months. Until then, we have a generator for our power source (which will serve as a back-up once we have the permenant electricity). Those in Kenya are working out the final details of the logistics, such as hiring local health care workers and stocking the laboratory. In the next week or two (depends on when I get this check in the mail), I wlll be wiring another $4,000 for the final expenses to get everything ready. I am in the midst of updating the clinic proposal, and should have that up on the web site in the next few weeks. There are three Swiss med students that are going to work in the clinic in June, and a Canadian med student is going in July. Several of the undergradute students are also going to be assisting.
    2. AIDS Education: Thanks to the hard work of Jen, Jenn and Tasha (of course along with Reuben and Richard) we have been able to develop and implement an AIDS Education Peer Tutor Program at local schools. This adds another dimension to the currents AIDS Awareness Program. More information about this may be found at the confirmedvolunteers Yahoo Groups web page.
    3. Preschool: A third classroom has recently been added, showing the great support for the school by the local community. We are still working with Phi Delta Kappa International looking for a donor for the full scale $220,000 USD Primary School we have hopes of building.
    4. Public Library: Once the electricity is brought from the main road to the clinic, the Library will be able to hook-up. What this means is that there will be the potential for evening hours. One of the future goals is to establish a computer lab in the library. Once the clinic opens, we expect to see an increase in volume to the library. Books are still needed, so feel free to gather/ship more.
    5. Women's Groups: We continue to support the existing groups, and in January added another group with the purchase of five sewing machines.
    6. New Volunteer Houising: Two new homes were recently constructed, with the plans of adding another 2-3 so the volunteers will have more room.
    7. Documentary Film: During my Jan-Feb. trip, we shot an 18 minute documentary film on the work with the help of Reuben's brother Ingolo. The video turned out great! And we are hoping to use it for fundraising and volunteer recruitment. Right now I am looking into getting a large number of reproductions, so if people would want a copy to help us fundraise/publicize, then let me know. I tried adding it to the web site, but the file was extremely large (733 MB) and would take days to download.
    8. Trooper/Pajero: Both trucks are running, but now in the best of shape. One of these days, we wil hopefully be able to replace them.
    9. Agriculture Program: We have been talking about this for years now, but never have had anyone with the skills and interest to further develop this program. I have been working with a group of ag students from Italy who are planning on going to Kenya in September for a baseline survey and to get this program started.
    10. Volunteers: There are 14 volunteers that are planning on going to Kenya over the course of this summer, and will be working on all of the various projects.

      Well, that is about it from my end. Hope all is well. Let me know if you have any questions, or want to get involved at any level.

Hank

 

 

Copyright 1998 - 2022 © reserved with Volunteer Kenya