MAMA Team Dialogue with Community Enhance Projects Sustainability

Maternal Aid for Mothers in Africa (MAMA) proactively relies on public participation meetings with target communities to build mutual long-term relationships and reinforce sustainability of projects initiated in rural marginalized areas.

In Orus Village, East Pokot, Baringo County, where several MAMA projects are ongoing, a field team engaged the community’s members in a series of public meetings to understand their needs and priorities before embarking on providing sustainable solutions.

The separate men and women groups gatherings revealed a myriad of challenges facing the Orus rural community especially on the maternal and child health aspect. Inaccessibility to quality maternal and child healthcare services emerged as one of the most disabling obstacles in the severely marginalized rural area in Kenya.

Mothers revealed that being pregnant in Orus is an extremely difficult journey. Women have to travel long distances to fetch water and firewood during pregnancy and post-pregnancy period, increasing possible health complications.

Expectant mothers also depend on medically unequipped traditional birth attendants (TBAs) during delivery due to lack of adequate and accessible maternal health facilities in East Pokot. The TBAs have no personal protective equipment (PPEs) such as gloves to prevent transmission of infections.

Men expressed frustration with drought caused by climate change that has led to death of their livestock and made it difficult to support their families and expectant wives. The decline in cattle and goats has also reduced milk quantity, leading to malnourished children and increased child mortality before age five.

The ongoing construction of a wellness and resource center in Orus village was one of the primary and urgent recommendations the community made during the public participation meetings. The center also hosts a comprehensive maternity wing that will help mothers access quality health information and care services.

MAMA wellness and resource center has received immense support from the Orus community. The local community provided land, sand, skilled and unskilled labor and adequate security during the construction period.

The community has also promised to utilize services offered by the facility once it is completed.