The Afretech Aid Society and The Rotary Club have given the Ol Pejeta community development department a reason to celebrate with the announcement of a KSH 5.3 million grant to supporting local healthcare. This is on top of significant investment by the two organisations in partnering with Ol Pejeta to bring ICT and other equipment to local schools.
There are two key challenges facing healthcare centres in rural Laikipia. One is staff numbers and capacity, the other is basic services and infrastructure – including access to water. Afretech Aid Society Canada and The Rotary Club have committed KSH 5.3 million to working with Ol Pejeta to tackle these challenges in the communities surrounding the Conservancy.
The projects will focus on providing clean running water, medical equipment and reliable electricity to the clinics, and will be carried out with the relevant government agencies. During a January 2017 visit, teams from Afretech and The Rotary Club held trainings for health workers that included suturing and standard operating procedures for handling emergency cases.
To ensure students in local schools can access technology (a critical skill for further education or apprenticeships) – Afretech and Rotary have partnered with Ol Pejeta Conservancy to introduce computer laboratories in Tigithi and Saint Augustine secondary schools – bringing the total number of schools benefitting from this tech collaboration to 5. Afretech has also made donations of desks and chairs, and are in the process of setting up libraries in Njoguini and Ereri primary schools.
Afretch President Bonnie Sutherland with students from YARD DEB School, posing with their new desks.
A team from Afretech, lead by Bonnie Sutherland, is also supporting the refurbishment of the kitchen at Nanyuki Children’s Home and donated cutlery to be used by the children. The support will go a long way towards improving the quality of life for the children at the home and boosting the morale of the staff who take care of the children.
Afretech has been Ol Pejeta's longstanding partner in matters community development and hopefully the relationship will grow stronger with the ultimate aim of making life better for the people in our communities.