This fall I will be co-oping abroad in Meru, Kenya with the Miriam Kanana Mubichi Foundation (MKMF). The majority of my time will be spent in local public schools and in the pediatric ward of Meru District Hospital. At the public schools I will be teaching health/sanitation classes to students and I also hope to start an after-school art program. MKMF is currently fundraising for a new project which will provide a meal to each student every day at select schools in Meru. The goal of this project is twofold; it will combat malnutrition and encourage children to stay in school rather than leave to find work to pay for food. I will be partially responsible for organizing and carrying out the food drops. MKMF also does sanitation projects in Meru which include constructing blocks of latrines. I enjoy construction projects and I hope to assist with the building of at least one of these blocks.
MKMF has a program providing baby formula to malnourished children that are patients at Meru District Hospital. So far not much data has been collected on the program, so I will be in charge of keeping tabs on the formula distribution. In addition, I will be interviewing the families of the children that come in to better understand the reasons behind malnourishment in Kenya and put together a profile of a hypothetical family that may have a malnourished child. This is all in an effort to increase preventative measures in the future and could have a major impact on the lives of many. With the drought currently devastating eastern Africa and the resulting famine in Somalia, a border country to Kenya, this project is especially pertinent.
MKMF has a program providing baby formula to malnourished children that are patients at Meru District Hospital. So far not much data has been collected on the program, so I will be in charge of keeping tabs on the formula distribution. In addition, I will be interviewing the families of the children that come in to better understand the reasons behind malnourishment in Kenya and put together a profile of a hypothetical family that may have a malnourished child. This is all in an effort to increase preventative measures in the future and could have a major impact on the lives of many. With the drought currently devastating eastern Africa and the resulting famine in Somalia, a border country to Kenya, this project is especially pertinent.