Taking That ‘Chance’ in Mathare!
Connecting the dots for health and well-being especially here!
by Deva-Marie Beck, PhD, RN, DTM >>> in collaboration with Suan Cross
What would you do if you were invited to visit
the vast slum called Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya?
the vast slum called Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya?
Suan Cross and her partner Joshua Zambrowski took that 'Chance' in 1995 and have been connecting the dots ever since — the dots between health / well-being and food, education, gender equality, clean water, and decent work.
These dots represent six of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today, their ‘Project Chance Africa’ (PCA) is embedded in Mathare — a massive slum in the middle of Nairobi, Kenya — by serving the people there, especially the children and women.
I first met Suan Cross via the telephone as recommended by our long-time friend and colleague Bea Osome — who has established more than 18 wells in African villages. Suan and Bea are connected by their commitment to the health of marginalized African peoples and through their alliance with the dynamic West Ottawa Rotary Club >>>
Scroll down to the next Kenya story to learn more about Bea's commitment to Kenya with “Clean Water = Girls Rights & Education.”
Scroll down to the next Kenya story to learn more about Bea's commitment to Kenya with “Clean Water = Girls Rights & Education.”
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Feeding children’s stomachs, and minds are the same thing. Poverty is so great that the meals PCA provides for students is the primary inducement for parents sending their children to school, rather than to beg in Nairobi. Soup kitchens are provided from time to time and—thanks to the generosity of their PCA has been able to meet the nourishment needs of 500 students and teachers at MCEDO Elementary school and supplement teachers' salaries. Many teachers work simply for food.
Food and education are intertwined in the slum!
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Since 2008, Project Chance Africa has been supporting the Loving Concern School in the Muthare slum. At first, they donated to others and then raised the funds to purchase the building, install bathrooms, water tanks, a kitchen, library, computer lab and additional classrooms. By 2011, they raised funds to pay teachers’ salaries and to buy food and school supplies. By 2012 , the school had grown from 120 students to 400 with new floors pending to be capable of teaching 500 students annually. By 2014, PCA was able to oversee the addition of three additional floors to the original school building of the Loving Concern Education Centre. In that same year, PCA established the first free medical clinic in the slum, through Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital Outreach Programme. The clinic serves approximately 900 patients a month, and does immunization throughout this south end of the slum, along with HIV /AIDS workshops. PCA also supports MCEDO—the Mathare Community Education and Development Organization—a community based organization operating in the heart of Mathare slum. This school currently has a population of 450 children aged between 6 and 18 years. Its daily operations are run by a team of 17 staff (15 teachers, 2 non-teaching).
PCA's mission is to help children—both boys and girls—and women and youth living in the Mathare slum through education, nutrition and healthcare programmes. Mathare children are helped to take big steps forward by supporting programmes which will enable them to reach their potential and a find a secure place in Kenyan society.
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“Mathare children are helped to take big steps forward by supporting programmes which will enable them to reach their potential and a find a secure place in Kenyan society.”
Lack of water is perhaps the greatest single problem in this slum. Typically, Jeegos—large yellow water carriers—are lugged in by individuals daily.
In 2020, PCA was instrumental in building a well—on the school property—that is providing sufficient water for cooking, sanitation and personal hygiene. The school offers access to the well water to the larger community of Mathare.
”Lack of water is perhaps the greatest single problem this slum.”
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This program has grown into a business for the women by teaching both the fundamentals of sewing and the tools required to run a business. Women
sew, and sell, school uniforms, cosmetic, computer, and catchall bags made out of used cement bags. As of 2022, single Mothers from the sewing circle are are now teaching the first sewing class in the school.
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To learn much more about this awesome project, enjoy this video 'The Invisible City' >>>
The film describes the poverty and devastation experienced in the slum, as well as the spirit, and dedication of those who fight to overcome it. It describes the efforts of those who help. The film was produced, and directed by Josh Zambrowsky and Samson Njuru, a brilliant young filmmaker who lives in Mathare.
All image credits to Suan Cross and Project Chance Africa, used with permission / SDG Logos used with permission >>>
CLEAN WATER =
GIRLS' RIGHTS & EDUCATION
GIRLS' RIGHTS & EDUCATION
18 Wells & Counting! The Bea Osome Clean Water Project
• To save lives by preventing water-born diseases such as typhoid fever
• To reduce times spent by school-age children to fetch water — time that could and should be spent learning in the classroom. • To keep young girls safer in school —minimizing their risks for abuse. |
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Illustrating how four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are interconnected. Strategically working on one Goal also achieves related Goals at the same time.
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Beatrice Osome — a Canadian / Kenyan retired nurse and activist (shown here with her husband Ben) — is devoting her time, since 2006, to digging as many wells as possible in her native Kenya. As of June, 2017, she has organized — with many different organizations and the support and encouragement of her husband Ben — to dig and manage wells at 14 different primary school sites in Kenya.
Bea says, “In a developed country such as Canada, there is no need to walk two or three kilometres to fetch water — mostly contaminated — in large buckets, basins and jerry cans carried on one's head. In developing countries like my own Kenya, this is an unfortunate reality, especially in rural areas.” |
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As there is no running water in their homes or compounds, women and children — especially girls — spend several hours a day walking long-distances — sometimes in harsh weather — to supply their households with much-needed but mostly dirty water from unsanitary sources.
This graphic on the right is derived from the feature article 'Well Wisher' about Bea Osome in the July 2012 Edition of the magazine 'Rotary Canada.' Bea is a member of the West Ottawa Rotary Club. Highlighted from this article is a photo of Bea at the first well she organized to be dug near her mother's home in Kenya. |
As well, these young girls go to fetch water with containers weighing up to 20 kg to carry on their heads for long and steep distances back to their homes. They are thus extremely susceptible to back injuries, including scoliosis and curvature of the spine.
Additionally, many of the rivers where young girls go to fetch water are also used by Motorcycle Taxi ‘Boda Boda’ drivers to wash their motorcycles. This also leaves these young girls at risk as some of the drivers have ill intentions with the girls — to abuse, rape and impregnate them. The Bea Osome Clean Water Project funds the construction of hand-dug wells on school grounds where students, school staff and neighbouring communities can conveniently and safely access clean water and maintain these wells, cooperatively, as a community resource. School officials or community leaders requesting wells submit their proposals to Bea Osome for consideration. Once the wells have been approved and the funding secured, the wells are dug by hand, using locally-available materials, equipment and labour. Once the wells are completed, the users are trained and required to properly maintain them. 
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Also celebrating the life of Charity Osome & her legacy of compassion...
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Bea and Ben Osome have also dedicated their work — to develop wells in their native Kenya — in memory of their daughter Charity Bernice Osome, who passed after a prolonged illness in October, 2010. The far left image indicates a special memorial in her honour dedicated at the same time the Epanga Primary School well was opened. |
On July 21, 2017, Charity would have celebrated her 49th birthday and her sparkling smile and infectious energy will not be forgotten, nor will her love of children and passion for helping the disadvantaged. Since 2011 — in celebration of Charity's life and legacy — her parents have hosted an annual BBQ & Silent Auction at their home on the Saturday closest to her birthday — to raise funds for construction of water wells developed to provide clean water for a school and community in rural Western Kenya.
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In 2020 — during the COVID pandemic — Bea is raising funds with opportunities to purchase Kenyan Handicrafts and gifts. Contact Bea for your private viewing and your opportunity to support this worthwhile project!
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Videos featuring six schools and wells developed from this project...
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Dedicated in 2016 with the support of the Rotary Club of West Ottawa, Ontario.
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Dedicated in November 2015, to the memory of Charity Osome with the support of the West Ottawa Rotary Club & the MET Bible Church.
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Dedicated in 2017 with the support of the Rotary Club of West Ottawa, Ontario.
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Dedicated in February 2016 with the support of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
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Dedicated in January 2012 with support from the West Ottawa & Marriott Ottawa Rotarians.
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Dedicated in February, 2014 with support from the West Ottawa Rotary Club.
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Image Credits: Top: from https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-eizlf / Upper left: A young girl at Mudoba village in Funyula, Kenya, quenches her thirst at a newly drilled water bore hole, installed as part of a Voiceless Children project. Previously, women and children walked for long distances to fetch unsafe drinking water from streams. © Felix Masi, 2006, Courtesy of Photoshare ID # 292-146 / Kenyan handicrafts from Bea Osome, used with permission. The SDG logos — featured on the middle left — are used with attribution to the United Nations. Middle right: Ben & Bea Osome taken in Prescott, Ontario, in September, 2006, Photographer Randy Nixon, used with permission. Middle left: Wikimedia, African girl with water jug, Author: Alto Vicky; used with Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. Lower left: Charity Osome Memorial Plaque cropped from the above Epanga Primary School Video; Lower middle; Charity Bernice Osome, from the Osome family files, used with permission.