Kenya
A few months ago, I had a chance to visit one of the Slums Information Development and Resource Centers (SIDAREC) in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established to promote and consolidate skills existing within slum communities, especially among youth. SIDAREC received the ONE award in 2009 and a grant of $100,000 for its innovative, Africa-led efforts to advance the Millennium Development Goals. As part of the program, they started a car wash to employ youth and help the community. Take a look at my photographs:
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When I’m photographing in Africa, I don’t see helpless, starving Africans waiting for a “handout” (a term that I personally think should be trashed). I see entrepreneurs, hardworking mothers and people inspired with dreams just like you and I.
The only difference between us is opportunity. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) offers a fortunate ticket. AGOA was enacted in 2000 as the first piece of trade legislation focused on increasing and enhancing trade between the US and countries in sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA permits duty-free, quota-free export of more than 6000 products from eligible countries to the US.
Global Apparel in Kenya is one such company capitalizing on this vital US legislation. They have landed major accounts with Wal-Mart, Target and the Men’s Warehouse and has provided jobs to more than 1,000 workers to create up to 8,000 garments per day. I had a chance to tour their factory, so take a look at some of the work they do:
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Alex Vogel, former chief counsel to Sen. Frist and the NRSC, is on a trip with ONE in Kenya and Tanzania. Today, he had a chance to see a real example of American funding that is providing real world, real time help to people who need it.
We left Nairobi today and flew out west to Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya, on the shores of Lake Victoria. After a 50 or 60km drive (that felt like 500 or 600km because of the road quality), we reached the US Army Medical Research Unit/Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project. This joint effort is a 41-year collaboration between the United States Army and the Kenyan government to do research on the treatment and diagnosis of tropical diseases like malaria.
A home-based HIV counselor and testing worker walks through several hundred yards of pasture and rough grazing land to reach his patients.
That’s the top line, bureaucratic description of the project. The reality is far more interesting and important.
It is the place where the rubber meets the road, however unpaved it might be. What was so amazing to me was how, 50 km up a road so potholed that we often drove more smoothly on the dirt shoulder — these rural residents were participating in malaria vaccine trials that are as professional, as well run and organized as anything our children could participate in back in the States.
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ONE is taking a group of bipartisan politicos on a trip to Kenya and Tanzania to show them just how much has been accomplished in health and development in Africa –- and the challenges that still lie ahead. Republican strategist Rich Galen recounts his first day at a SIDAREC center in Nairobi.
After a working lunch — which included a briefing on what we would be doing and seeing over the next couple of days — and some housekeeping items (don’t forget, we’re leaving the hotel at 0700 Monday morning!), we loaded up the bus and headed off to Kibera, which has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the largest slums on the African Continent. Some estimates have as many as a million people living in the tin huts and worn canvas tents of Kibera.
Issa Abdulah, a member of SIDAREC, washes a van at their car wash in Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya
The visit was to an NGO called the Slums Information and Resource Centers (SIDAREC). While the acronym might be somewhat awkward, the work they are doing is most certainly not. SIDAREC, which operates in three Nairobi slums, was the recipient of the 2009 ONE Award, which has allowed them to expand their operations.
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On Friday I boarded a plane for a trip to Kenya and Tanzania.
Traveling to Africa with ONE is always exciting but this trip has a special twist to it. In order to start the year off on the in the right bipartisan spirit, ONE is taking four Republicans and four Democrats, all of whom have very strong ties to key leaders, decision-makers and potential presidential candidates within their parties with us.
Man this trip will be interesting and with this much political talent in the house the sky is the limit.
The participants include Dr. Whit Ayres (Republican pollster), Dave Beattie (Democratic pollster), Rich Galen (Republican strategist), Rob Jesmer (Executive Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee), Anne Lewis (Democratic internet consultant), Jim Margolis (Democratic media consultant), J.B. Poersch (Former Executive Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee), Alex Vogel (Former Chief Counsel to Sen. Frist and the NRSC).
This is part of a new effort on our part to show key political leaders how much has been accomplished in health and development in Africa – and the challenges that still exist
We will focus much of our trip on US-supported programs, specifically PEPFAR, PMI, GAVI, Global Fund and Feed the Future.
We will also spend time with young African leaders in Tanzania and young bloggers in Kenya. And, working with the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic institute (both DC-based and supported by the US Government), we will meet with a group of Kenyan women who are working to change the way government works in their country.
This is going to be an awesome trip and the post trip work that we need to work on together will be a game changer.
I know that when we return, ONE will have eight powerful new advocates for the continuation of programs critical to African development.
We all will be blogging and tweeting during the trip so be sure to check the ONE blog and follow me on Twitter.
What a way to start the year off. Republicans and Democrats working, learning and looking for solutions together.
Watch out!
See ya.
Mike
This is the second in a series of commentaries contributed by the Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE). A project of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, PACE is working to ensure that existing safe and effective vaccines for pneumonia — the world’s leading childhood killer — reach all of the children who need them.
Dr. Fred Were, photo courtesy of PACE
Working as a pediatrician in my native Kenya, I help both poor children in a crowded and resource-starved public hospital as well as more affluent children in private health facilities. Even within Nairobi, I witness the stark difference in health outcomes between children who can afford to receive pneumonia interventions and those who cannot.
Recent reports by UNICEF and Save the Children highlight this need to ensure we reach the poorest children in low-income countries.
This rallying cry could not be more important. The causes of child mortality also deserve our renewed attention. It isn’t just the fact that the poorest children are too often overlooked, it’s the fact that the reasons they are dying are entirely preventable.
It often comes as a surprise to parents that pneumonia kills more young children than any other disease. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored this fact in the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health he released just last month. The need to prevent this disease in order to save children’s lives and reduce overall child mortality around the globe cannot be overstated.
Fortunately, we already know the interventions that work to prevent and treat pneumonia. In addition to exclusive breastfeeding, frequent handwashing, reducing indoor pollution from cooking and smoking, and increasing the availability of antibiotics, there are proven vaccines that provide a lifetime’s worth of protection against the two main causes of pneumonia. Last year in Rwanda and the Gambia, pneumonia vaccines were successfully added to their national immunization programs, meaning that all children — rich or poor — now have access to vaccines.
I am proud that Kenya was approved by the GAVI Alliance to be the next African country to receive financial assistance to purchase and deliver pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, and we expect to begin routine immunization of Kenyan infants by the end of this year. It’s an exciting development that will save tens of thousands of young lives. But funding in most countries remains a serious challenge, and the economic downturn has only increased the financial strain.
While child survival demands a comprehensive approach, World Pneumonia Day on November 12, 2010 is a once-a-year opportunity to raise awareness about the solutions that already exist to defeat the world’s number one killer of children. And you don’t have to wait until then. As the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals approaches, you can join the global dialogue on Millennium Development Goal IV at http://mdg.devex.com/. There is no time like the present to voice your support for fighting for the life of every child, everywhere.
Dr. Fred Were is national chairman of the Kenya Paediatric Association and is a leading member of the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE).
Proposed Restrictions on the News Media Cause Alarm in South Africa — Business executives, civic leaders and journalists in South Arica are warning that stringent measures on the news media being advanced by the governing African National Congress will threaten press freedom, enshroud much official activity in secrecy, potentially punish offending journalists or whistle-blowers with up to 25 years in prison and undermine the fight against corruption in the continent’s largest economy. (New York Times)
In Kenya’s capital, Somali immigrant neighborhood is incubator for jihad — In Nairobi, Kenya, schools and mosques where extremist views are taught are reshaping the Somali immigrant community that for years has lived peacefully in the capital of this predominantly Christian country. Moderate imams now compete with hard-line preachers pushing a strict interpretation of Islam. (Washington Post)
Survivors of Pakistan floods face growing health problems — The misery of Pakistan’s flooding, which has already displaced millions, is showing up in the form of communicable illnesses, the United Nations said today. Up to 1.5 million flood victims in Pakistan were being treated for a variety of ailments and conditions, including acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and skin infections. (CNN)
Clinton discusses Obama’s ‘Global Health Initiative’ at Johns Hopkins — In pressing for the Global Health Initiative, which provides $63 billion over 2009-2014 to combat health problems like malaria and HIV/AIDS, Clinton said last week at a speech at Johns Hopkins University, that health aid for developing countries was not a partisan issue, and commended former President George W. Bush’s administration for “ground-breaking work” in global health. (Reuters)
Wyclef Jean Says He’ll Challenge Election Ruling — Wyclef Jean, the hip-hop star who had hoped to become Haiti’s next president, said Sunday that his lawyers would challenge the recent ruling from election officials that kept him from the list of eligible candidates. In a message on Sunday, Jean said he had decided to appeal because: “We have met all the requirements set by the laws. And the law must be respected.” (New York Times)
