A couple from Ireland has earned plaudits after immersing themselves in volunteering to fight Covid-19 in Kenya, helping thousands of families in the process.
Maria Kidney and her husband Martin Ballantyne decided to stay in the country and volunteer with the Kericho County Emergency Preparedness and Response Team, even as many foreigners left for their home nations after the first case of Covid-19 case was confirmed in Kenya.
Having been in the country for 18 years, Kidney told reporters that it made no sense for them to leave when the local community was facing a crisis.
Instead, they mobilised support and embarked on a mission to sensitise the public on Covid-19 while donating equipment including hand-washing stations and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to individuals and health facilities.
Maria is the Director of Brighter Communities Worldwide while Martin serves as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
They built a small community clinic in the rural Londiani area of Kericho in 2003, eventually adding a maternity wing after observing the inability of mothers to easily access maternal health facilities in the area.
The couple committed to supporting the Covid-19 response in the South Rift region in various ways.
Among other things, they launched a campaign to donate soap for hand-washing to 50,000 households in Kericho County.
Working with partners, they are also training 825 community health volunteers on how to sensitise households and raise awareness on measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 such as social distancing.
In addition, they have committed to supporting youth groups in the area with income-generation activities such as mask-making to ease the financial burden during the pandemic.
They also revealed that they were continuing with a program launched before the pandemic to build washrooms and provide water tanks for 16 schools.
The organisation has also tweaked existing menstrual health programs to support girls and women in the area during the Covid-19 period.
In a statement, they also revealed that their outreach clinics and antenatal care tracking would continue in compliance with Covid-19 directives.
In recent weeks, they have undertaken sensitisation campaigns in collaboration with authorities in areas including Kipkelion West, Belgut and Londiani.
Maria Kidney first came to Kenya as a tourist in 2000, and was mugged in Nairobi leading her to seek refuge in the Kenyan Girl Guides’ Headquarters.
It was there that she found out about the Girl Guides' work with communities in Kenya and later contacted the Council of Irish Girl Guiding Associations looking to find out how they could support their Kenyan counterparts.
It was this move that would lead to a first group of 20 volunteers from Ireland traveling to Londiani in 2022 to work with local communities on education and healthcare, forming 'Friends of Londiani' which eventually morphed into Brighter Communities Worldwide.
Watch a short video of Maria speaking to reporters on Tuesday, April 28 below:
