2012 GHI Kenya team with field officers at a HIV education workshop.
A personal blog by Robyn Buna (2nd year medical student, Southern Medical Program)
This past summer, I had the privilege of travelling to Kenya to work with Partners in Community Transformation (PCT), a local NGO in Kit Mikayi (a small village in Kenya). I went with three other medical students for one month, during which we initiated and monitored several projects, and educated the community on various topics. Our overall goal as a GHI team was to implement projects that matched the community’s needs and desires, while also addressing several vital social determinants of health – nutrition, income and education.
Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV) group members learning how to make a sack garden.
Personally, I was the leader of the sack garden project. We provided supplies for 25 families to begin sack gardens, and held workshops to educate the community on the construction and maintenance of the gardens. In addition, I was also a co-leader of the Health Education workshops, in which our entire group presented to local secondary schools about HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and other topics. These workshops were extremely well received and this project will be expanded this year.
Overall, I had a fantastic experience in Kenya. It was inspiring to meet and speak with all of the community members; they were so proud to show us their homes, families, crops and farms. We definitely felt welcome in the community, and spent most of our time waving and saying hello to everyone we passed! We also spent some time learning the local language and exploring the area. I am very grateful that I was able to participate in a GHI project, and I hope to return to Kenya.
~Robyn Buna
Robyn Buna (far left) and Jessica Mazzarolo presenting at a health education workshop for out-of-school youth.