I am just returning from 3 weeks in Kenya and a week in South Africa. In Kenya I was working with the diocese of Maseno North Mother’s Union on a de-worming project that we started just under a year ago. It was an extraordinary experience and we gave medicine to treat intestinal worm infections in approximately 2500 children at about 10 parishes while I was there. The women were planning to reach another 5 parishes after I left. Seeing so many children, most of whom are either orphaned by AIDS or otherwise vulnerable, is overwhelming. When they sing to you in welcome, it’s indescribable, particularly when you and they know that you came to give them 5 unfortunate tasting tablets to chew and swallow.
At several of the parishes there was a child brought forward with obvious longstanding illness. One boy had a bad infection in his lower leg, which upon taking him to the hospital was found to involve a fractured bone as well. Another girl had terrible looking eyes – bright red with ulcers visible on her cornea. Severe vitamin A deficiency can do that, but so can other things.
Neither of these situations is unusual. Visits to these rural parishes, especially the more remote ones, usually turns up one or two children who are in serious need of medical attention, and whose illnesses are so progressed that they’ve clearly been worsening over a period of weeks to months. The overall infant and child mortality is very high in this region of Kenya, an indication that a lot of children get quite ill and don’t receive medical care. It is common however for families to purchase over the counter medications to try to treat illnesses themselves. So I was especially interested when I heard about a new possible venture for the Mother’s Union to address this problem.
Several of the women have received some training as community health workers and others are interested in it. A public health professor visited Maseno recently and had the following idea: give a few women in each parish start-up money for a pharmacy which they can run in their rural area with medication obtained from the hospital. Medications such as Tylenol, ibuprofen, anti-malarials and basic antibiotics are available in pha
rmacies around Kenya, but studies have shown up to half of them or more don’t actually contain adequate active ingredient. Medications at Maseno hospital are purchased from a company that checks the meds, so they are known to be good. While selling medications to treat simple and common complaints, these women can also be trained to pick out danger signs or indicators that someone needs to be referred to hospital. They could screen for malnutrition and refer kids to the hospital if necessary or potentially to a feeding program. With some training they could function quite well as community health workers while simultaneously making a bit of money.
I was so excited about this idea that I am using money donated from St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Chatham, MA to start a pilot project in two of the parishes. If it goes well we can fund-raise to expand it. If we can find a way to pick out children (and adults) who need true medical attention earlier in their disease process, we will be able to alleviate a lot of suffering.
To find out how you and your church can support the Mothers Union Pharmacy Project, contact Christiana here.
Dr. Christiana Russ is a pediatrician doing her residency at Boston Children's Hospital, currently working at an Anglican mission hospital in Kenya through a joint arrangement with Children's and the Diocese of Massachusetts. She is also chair of the Executive Council Standing Commission on HIV/AIDS.
Monday, September 29, 2008
"Mothers Union Pharmacy Project" -- by Dr. Christiana Russ
Thursday, September 4, 2008
"Prayers for Abeyei" -- by Mama Daria Kwaje
I was shocked when I saw their pictures. They stayed under the sun in a great heat. They made shelters without any plastic sheet or grass that they can cover on it. The sun goes directly over them, and if it is raining also it goes directly to them. The poor women with their babies managing to stay in that poor situation, no food. People are eating the leaves of the trees. There is not enough water, the type of water they drank was all muddy. No medicine for their children.
When I read the letter sent to me by the Mothers Union members in Abeyei, I cried because I was not able to fulfill their needs.
My request to you all is to pray for Abeyei people and specially the children and their mothers, also if God can make it possible for me to go and see them practically in the ground.
Recently there was a team from the Provincial office went to Abeyei taking some plastic sheets, which was not even enough but just for the families who have small babies at least, and we are going to come out with a project to collect some clothes from our members so that we should send it to our sisters in Abeyei to support them.
Mama Daria Kwaje is a Mother's Union Provincial Worker for the Episcopal Church of Sudan.
Monday, August 4, 2008
"What Two Have Done and Are Doing in Africa" -- by Hannah Miller
When Drs. Nancy and Gerry Hardison retired, that's when they began their real life's work. While employed, they volunteered at the San Diego Liver Foundation and the
Upon retirement, Dr. Nancy Hardison accepted an invitation to teach in Africa, and Dr. Gerry Hardison agreed to work at
About the Orphan Feeding Program
The Rev. Michael Russell, Rector of All Souls’,
“The Mothers’ Union members and the guardians of the children all volunteer their time, often causing friction at home and within the larger community. When asked how they found it in themselves to defy social convention, they answered, ‘We are mothers.’”
About Working in African Hospitals
“I saw familiar diseases in stages more advanced than I had thought possible,” said Dr. Gerry Hardison. “I saw diseases I had never seen before and learned about their accepted treatment. I found physical findings that I had read about in medical school but had never seen. … When the time came for staff to give speeches at my farewell party, one consultant admitted that they all thought I had come for a short vacation and no one expected me to show up each day for work. The next speaker expressed surprise that on rounds I actually touched the patients and examined them. Both were dead serious.”
Advice On “What One Can Do”
“Start with what is near you and then follow,” says Dr. Nancy Hardison. “God will open doors as you respond and you will find yourself stretching way beyond what you dreamed or thought possible. Gerry and I use Matthew 25:31-46 as our marching orders: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, … Whenever you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.’”
About Volunteering in
“It is a joy, a blessing and a privilege to serve here,” says Dr. Nancy Hardison. “Our faith continues to grow as we serve. We see the miracle of the loaves and fishes all the time. We are thankful for the support back home.”
Congregational Involvement
In 1999, the Hardisons’ home parish, All Souls,
All Souls’ Episcopal Church has worked with two parish missioners, Nancy and Gerry Hadrison, on several projects in
This fertile collaboration has not only changed people’s lives, it now offers All Souls’, and those who wish to work with us, the opportunity to deliver contributions directly to projects that will move people on to the development ladder.
The article contains information about the programs All Souls’ helps to fund, including
Top - Dr. Nancy Hardison with members of the Mothers' Union
Middle - Orphans line up for their one hot meal per week provided by the Mothers' Union
Bottom - Drs. Nancy and Gerry Hardison relaxing at home in Kenya with their best friend
