Baby Girls, Collard Greens and Teens

By Hillary James with photography by Michelle Anderson

I am writing from Lalmba Kenya on my annual visit to our projects.  I wish I could bring each of our supporters here to show them firsthand the beautiful simplicity of this community, and how Lalmba changes so many lives.   The night I arrived, there were 2 healthy baby girls born in our new delivery ward.  Each morning when the staff gathers in a circle to sing songs and pray, the nurse on-call reports on the events of last evening.  There seems to be a running competition between the male and female staff, for this morning when the nurse announced 2 girls were born, all the lady staff cheered!  The community is thrilled about the maternity ward.   They marvel at its cleanliness and comfort.    Though modest by US standards, the ward includes 2 private rooms with comfortable beds and mosquito nets for laboring mothers.  A few steps down the hall takes you to the well-stocked and clean delivery room. The most popular feature is the separate bathroom with modern toilet and shower for mothers to clean up after delivery.  Most women typically use a pit latrine, and don’t enjoy such a refreshing shower without taking a swim in the lake!  When I peeked in the ward the other day, I saw a new mother snuggling with her newborn in the bed under the mosquito net, helping the baby latch on for breastfeeding.  For so many Kenyan women, post-delivery usually means getting up off the delivery table and walking home.

Our volunteer Dr. Stephanie Ball noticed that many mothers who came to deliver did not even have a towel or receiving blanket in which to wrap their babies.   So she has begun sewing blankets with the help of local tailors to give women a nice cozy blanket to keep their babies warm.  We are so pleased to bring this life-saving and comforting service to the women of Matoso.

In recent years we have been talking with the Kenyan staff about the concept of sustainability.  Lalmba occupies quite a large compound here in Matoso, along the beach of Lake Victoria.  I was amazed when I arrived this week to see that the staff had taken its own initiative to plant crops in the large plot of land that was formerly open field.  The gardens are yielding an impressive bounty, providing all the vegetables needed by the 40 orphans in Lalmba’s orphan home this season.  A 10,000 square foot plot that was formerly grassland on our compound now teems with maize, cabbage, beans and other vegetables. Formerly Lalmba paid 2800 KS weekly (about $28 USD) to supply our orphans’ home with vegetables.  Now we are growing it ourselves!  The housemothers and groundsmen arrive most afternoons to pluck leaves for the orphans’ dinners, and on weekends the orphans come to harvest whatever crop has come in.  It’s our very own farm to table experience!

The evening meal being prepared at the Ongoro Children’s Home includes ugali (a maize paste) and sakuma wiki (collard greens), both grown in the Lalmba gardens.

Another focus of my trip has been to initiate a health program for adolescents.  The one demographic in Kenya for which the HIV transmission rate remains frustratingly high is among youth.  52% of all new HIV infections in Migori County in 2015 occurred among young people aged 15-24.  In an effort to impact those youth, Lalmba plans to create a gathering space in which they can socialize and learn more about HIV and adolescent health concerns in a safe, supportive environment.  A nurse will be available in a private space to meet with youth one-on-one if they wish to have a consultation, and peer volunteers will help model healthy attitudes and discussions.  Computers, books and games will offer opportunities for leisure and relaxation for youth who often feel aimless if they are out of school and jobless (jobs are scarce even for those with diplomas).   We hope this new meeting space will help influence youth to make healthy choices that preserve their generation from the crippling scourge that AIDS has been to the generations before them.

Lalmba staff in Matoso created a wish list of items they would love for the clinic.

Can you help us with funding for any of these?

As a shoestring organization, we greatly appreciate those supporters who help us meet our expenses month to month.  Would you consider making automatic monthly contributions to Lalmba? Here is a convenient way to set up automatic payments (www.coloradogives.org/lalmba/).  Thank you for considering a monthly commitment that would provide a more stable financial foundation on which Lalmba could depend.

Now, off to church!

There’s nothing like a boda-boda ride to work out those travel kinks.

Lalmba Vice President, Hillary James, and board member, Terry Robinette (seated middle position) share a boda-boda ride to church.