Shining Hope for Communities

Summer Institute Application Now Open!

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:10:22 +0000

Alix Haber

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:11:48 +0000

Alix graduated from Wesleyan University in May 2011 after serving as Shining Hope’s Deputy US Programs Director and being heavily involved in SHOFCO-Wesleyan, the Wesleyan chapter of Shining Hope. During Alix’s senior year, SHOFCO-Wesleyan raised enough money from the Wesleyan community to fully fund Shining Hope’s Community Health Worker Program. In addition to her work with Shining Hope, Alix spent a four months in Kenya studying health and development and used her original research on traditional medicine for her honors thesis. She has also worked to help alleviate poverty through education and social services in the United States, working with organizations including Breakthrough Communities and LIFT. After graduation, Alix hiked the 2,181 mile-long Appalachian Trail running from Maine to Georgia.

What do you believe in? What inspires you?

At a young age, I read Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book about the work of Dr. Paul Farmer and his organization, Partners in Health. I was inspired by his belief in community-based aid and its importance in alleviating poverty. He believes that disease eradication cannot be achieved without community support, without neighbors helping to implement treatment strategies in his clinics. Like Dr. Farmer, Shining Hope provides resources through community involvement. I love that Shining Hope’s doctors, nurses, and teachers are Kenyan. I love the Community Health Worker Program, which trains Kibera locals to provide basic primary care and health education. I am excited to work with Shining Hope so I can continue this mission.

Kibera School for Girls premieres a remix of the hit single ‘I Know I Can’!

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:14:12 +0000

Henry Tini Oyatsi

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:14:24 +0000

Dr. Henry is the Manager of Health Services at SHOFCO’s clinic. He believes that being a doctor is his calling. His mother was a nurse and the most influential person in his life. She would bring him to health clinics with her and helped develop his interest in health care. Henry saw suffering and grew to believe that he could help sick people. Dr. Henry has worked in numerous health facilities, both under the government and in the private sector. For Henry, the best part of the job is seeing patients, especially children, become healthy. Outside of the clinic Henry likes to read philosophy and history; he also enjoys sports such as martial arts and hiking. Henry’s dream is to see SHOFCO spread throughout slums in Kenya and beyond, bringing a message of hope for girls and women. He also hopes to see true development in Kibera and would love if the government took a vested interest in Kibera residents by building affordable and safe housing.

Bernard Maticha

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:11:34 +0000

Bernard is Shining Hope’s Community Programs Manager. He has a diploma in social work and certificates in programs management, program facilitations, and training of trainers. He is passionate about working with communities and helping a community figure out how to best help itself. Bernard loves to work directly with community members. He also enjoys soccer, watching movies, and listening to music. Bernard hopes that in the next five to ten years SHOFCO will be able to even better address the needs of the immediate community and can grow to help all of Kibera.

Joshua Omoke

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:08:55 +0000

Joshua works at Shining Hope as the Cyber Café Attendant. He is very interested in computers and has a diploma in Information Technology. Joshua understands the dynamics of working with computers and enjoys sharing that knowledge with the Kibera people. He loves teaching computer literacy classes and networking with others. Outside of computers, Joshua likes to read literature, practice gymnastics and athletics in general. He knows that in Kibera education is hard to come by, especially computer literacy. Joshua hopes that even in a short time working for Shining Hope, he will be able to impart his knowledge of computers to numerous people in Kibera to make them computer literate.

Irene Ouma

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:05:07 +0000

Irene works in the JJJ Community Clinic as the Head of Maternal and Child Health Services. Irene jokes that one reason she became a nurse was because her mother was one; she loves helping people and reducing the number of people who suffer from curable conditions. It makes Irene happy when she knows her work has helped people to feel better and that they are pleased by her treatment of them. Irene unwinds from work by doing aerobics, watching movies, and reading novels. She hopes to see the clinic expand to have a full Maternal Clinic equipped with ultrasound machines and even have the capability to perform surgery.

Adah Molle Alati

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:03:20 +0000

Adah works at the JJJ Clinic as a nurse-counselor in the Maternal and Child Health Program. As a counselor, she provides guidance and counseling for those dealing with gender-based violence as well as for HIV positive individuals. On the nursing side, she works with mothers and children on issues like immunizations and nutrition. Adah is very much a team player and helps out wherever she can. She worked in four clinics before coming to Shining Hope; Adah actually applied to work here before the clinic even existed! Adah became a nurse because, as she says, it was her calling. Her father died from an explained illness and Adah believed that if she had had medical training she could have prevented it. She wants to help others from going through what she went through in losing her father. Adah loves monitoring children from young ages and seeing them grow up healthy. She is a very talkative person and says that even outside of work she ends up counseling people she meets. She loves listening and giving advice, helping people obtain what they want. Adah hopes to see Shining Hope grow and continue to help children who are suffering from preventable illnesses. She wants Kibera to change, especially concerning the high incidences of sexual abuse she has seen. Adah knows that Shining Hope is making a difference by spreading a message of hope to the community at large.

Margaret Kilonzo

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:00:19 +0000

Margaret works in Shining Hope’s clinic as the Head of the Community Health Workers. She manages all the CHWs and assists with identifying patients and follow-up. She has spent a lot of time in Kibera and knows the community well. She has a passion for helping disadvantaged people in the community and enjoys community work in general. Maggie feels pleased when she sees patients whose health has clearly improved. She is extremely friendly and loves to socialize and make new friends. Maggie hopes to see SHOFCO continue to grow and would love to see the clinic have an in-patient program. Maggie also hopes for SHOFCO to positively impact the Kibera community by teaching people how to change their behavior to better their health.

George Okewa

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:30:05 +0000

In Kibera, George is a well-known and respected community organizer and activist. After graduating from high school, George continued to educate himself, despite his families’ inability to afford further education. He attended seminars in community health, organizing, and development. He has organized around issues of labor injustice, unemployment, and the government’s denial of services to the people of Kibera. In 2004, George began working with Kennedy Odede to help start a grassroots organization founded and run by the people of Kibera. George has since led slum-wide sanitation and anti-violence campaigns. In 2006 George founded Kibera’s own grass-roots security organization to protect and serve residents, as the police do not work inside the slum. George’s work has received widespread acclaim, even attracting the attention of Prime Minister Raila Odinga. George believes that the uplift of women is central to changing Kenyan society and the lives of all people in Kibera. He also believes that for such change to take place men and women must work together for equality, education, and justice. He lives in Kibera with his wife and two children.