Western Kenya Model Project

It has been an incredible fall for One By One. Thanks to our generous partners, donors and an incredible team in Kenya, we have launched our most comprehensive and far-reaching program yet.

After five years of working on fistula, through prevention and treatment investments, in different contexts, we felt we had learned a great deal and were ready to make some bold steps to increase our impact. In 2010, One By One made a strategic decision to select two regions in which to make multi-year investments in the development of both comprehensive fistula treatment services and critical prevention activities.

Our first region chosen is Western Kenya – a five county region that includes the Rift Valley and borders Uganda. Our program is called Let’s End Fistula.

Through this partnership effort, we hope to demonstrate a powerful model of how the burden of obstetric fistula can be substantially reduced (and eventually eliminated) with shared vision, commitment and collaboration among local and international organizations, as well as substantial local community involvement.

We launched Let’s End Fistula in several ways this fall. We have supported the start-up of a new fistula treatment center in Eldoret, Kenya called Gynocare. Our partner, Dr. Hillary Mabeya (pictured below) is a well-respected and experienced surgeon who is now performing surgeries at Gynocare with funding from One By One.

Additionally, we hired Ms. Sarah Omega, a fistula survivor and outreach specialist to be our Outreach Manager. On September 23-25, Sarah and a team conducted One By One’s very first Regional Representative Training. This training was made available to 30 people that live throughout the five county region of Western Kenya – 21 of whom are fistula survivors, five are concerned women and four are men who are committed to seeing the end of fistula.

The training lasted three days and was based on a well-planned curriculum that gave each Regional Representative information about fistula treatment, prevention, public speaking skills, data collection training and leadership skills. We also gave each Regional Representative a cell phone, minutes, a One By One t-shirt, a One By One badge and a One By One button. They also were given a binder of information and data collection sheets.

These men and women are incredibly inspiring group that have formed strong bonds together as localized leaders working across boundaries to share best practices as they conduct outreach in their areas. You can see pictures and some of their thoughts about their work with One By One on our facebook page.

This past October I had the privilege of working in Western Kenya alongside our outreach team of Sarah Omega, Habiba Corodhia Mohamed, a social worker working with us who is based in Mumias, and ten of our newly trained Regional Representatives. It was awe-inspiring to watch this group conduct outreach and connect with village chiefs to ensure proper involvement from local communities.

I am amazed and thrilled to report that in the first six weeks of work of our 30 Regional Representatives, this group has conducted 176 rural and local activities, found over 100 women with fistula, and educated over 23,000 people. The Representatives are already far exceeding our expectations!

I will continue to blog about this amazing project so please stay tuned.

In addition, you will be able to read blog postings directly from the field courtesy of Ms. Norah Otondo, here. Norah is a recently repaired fistula survivor who has joined our outreach team as both a Regional Representative and as the “voice” of the Let’s End Fistula project. Norah will be taking photos, posting blog entries about the work of our team in Western Kenya.

I hope you enjoy Norah’s first blog entry and stay tuned for more from Norah and the Let’s End Fistula team!!!

-- Heidi Breeze-Harris