Anne, 42, is a single mother of four children in Kenya. After her older sister got pregnant as a high school student, their father vowed to never educate another daughter. 

Anne’s brother helped fund a tailoring course—without schooling, she would have had no marketable skills. For a while, Anne ran a sewing business. But then her sewing machine broke. During this time, her husband was away to find work in Nairobi; Anne didn’t have any source of income. 

Over the two-year span that her husband had to be away, Anne’s community surrounded her, providing for her and her family in ways she never imagined. When the family was struggling to survive a critical time, they were surrounded by their church and their neighbors. 

Now, Anne’s children have grown a little older – her oldest daughter is a student at university. She has more time on her hands, and she wants to use it to give back to the community that helped her. 

“I am delighted to be even of small assistance to my community...”

 

The Church of the Nazarene, where Anne has long attended, is part of a new integrated community health project in partnership with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. At the heart of the new project are the community health volunteers, community members who are trained and equipped to educate and aid their neighbors. They meet regularly and travel to remote areas in the community teach good sanitation practices as well as provide basic first aid care.

Anne was thrilled when her pastor about the volunteer program, and she dove in immediately. It felt like the vehicle for change in her community for which she had been yearning.

“I am delighted to be even of small assistance to my community,” she shares. “They stood by me when I needed them the most, and they still do.”

The project, like the issues of clean water and good health, is multi-faceted. One of the problems it seeks to address is access. In rural areas, medical care is often miles away, and many people don’t have access to reliable transportation. The misconception is that it is easier or safer to stay home rather than making the miles-long trip by foot. If the injury or illness is serious, though, this decision becomes the impossible between risking the walk or risking staying at home without medicine.

 

 

Community Health Volunteers act as a connection point between their neighbors and medical care. The volunteers aren’t providing medical care themselves; they work closely with clinics, hospitals, and other health institutions to strengthen a network of communication. For instance, they provide resources for mothers so they don’t give birth at home, where infant mortality rates are much higher. 

“These activities have influenced family, my community, and me a great deal,” Anne says.

 

 

The effort of the volunteers, combined with the water, sanitation, and hygiene elements of the projects, are already beginning to transform communities. In one county, volunteers visited nearly 1,500 households in one quarter. They connected people with illnesses to their closest clinics, provided resources to expecting mothers, and led hygiene events at schools to empower children to stop illness from spreading through good hygiene practices.

“I am grateful for the training that has made me a community health volunteer,” Anne says.