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Executive Director, Ahadi Kenya Trust</strong></span></p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Giving back to the community</strong><br> I was born and brought up in the village in Muranga and as I grew up, I suffered from jigger infestation. After successfully struggling through education, I finally graduated in 1994. I set up a property business in 1996 after not been able to secure a job. It expanded every year thanks to God. With some savings, I realised the need to help my community by supporting orphans, widows, the aged and persons with disabilities. I started a feeding program in 2002 and every year to date, I've organised a Christmas Party for these unfortunate people. I wanted them to feel part of the festive seasons. I feed more than 2000 people annually. Every year, I send the money to the local churches that organise and feed the people. I did not attend any function until December 2006. I was either committed or on a holiday.</p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">The Party</strong><br> On 25th December 2006, I decided to celebrate together with them. As we were enjoying our meal, I noticed the absence of some poor families I knew some time back. I enquired about their status and I was very shocked to hear that they were unable to walk to the party due to jigger infestation. Enquiring more, I was told of three families with the same problem in the village. What normally happens is that after the function, the church visits those not able to attend in their respective homes with packed food. I decided to join them that afternoon. </p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Home visits /Jigger problems</strong><br> In the first house we entered, I met my former primary school classmate, his wife and their four children aged between 2 and 10 years and all of them were infested with jiggers. The children have never gone to school as their feet and hands were badly attacked by jiggers. Poverty was evident as they all shared a single room. Both parents could not move as they were equally infested on both their legs and hands. I initially dismissed them as dirty and lazy people and advised the man to observe cleanliness. The second home we visited was no different. We met three young orphaned children in the same state. The third home is where I changed my mind on the issue of jiggers. We met a 6 year old orphan who had been infected with the HIV Aids Virus by his mother after sharing a pin while removing jiggers. The mother was HIV positive and used to share the same pin with her son. He had his legs and hands swollen and covered with jiggers. The boy lived with the grandfather and inquiring whether the boy is normally taken to hospital, the answer was yes for other ailments but not jiggers. They confirmed they have never received any medication for jiggers. At this point I decided I must research more on jiggers. This refreshed my mind and I remembered how jiggers had infested me in my youth, to the point where I almost dropped out of school. I promised to buy the families medication. I slept a very disturbed person especially because of the young boy.</p> <p align="justify"> I thought of how many children are not going to school, how many are been infected with HIV virus, how many men and women cannot work, the disability caused by jiggers they cannot walk, the lack of medication and information etc.</p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Seeking help/ Medication</strong><br> On 26th December 2006, I went to seek for help from the local hospital. I met with a doctor and asked him about jigger medication. He told me they don&rsquo;t treat jiggers and there is no medication for jiggers. I further asked him what happens when a patient is admitted and has jiggers and he said they only treat the other ailment and advice the patient to be clean. I went to the chemist and even they had no idea of what could treat jiggers. I drove back to Nairobi a very disappointed man.&nbsp; On 27th December 2006, I went to a friend of mine who is a doctor in a private hospital and explained to her my situation. She subscribed a solution that suffocates jiggers. I bought it to see if would work. I sent the medication to my mother in our rural home for the three families. The medication worked.</p> <p align="justify"> When other affected families heard of the medication, they started streaming into my mothers rural home seeking for help. Within a week more than 100 people had come for medication. I kept on buying until I started asking my friends for help and this is when I decided to carry out a survey and establish how many people in our village have the problem.&nbsp; I commissioned the youth from our church to carry out the survey. A total number of 1350 people were registered in one location within two months.</p> <p align="justify"><span class="style112"><strong>Ahadi Kenya Trust </strong></span><br> Realizing the magnitude of the problem I decided to involve like minded people and form an organisation where we can be contributing funds to help these people. I called my friends one afternoon and sat down and I explained to them my mission. We all agreed and made a promise to eradicate jiggers in the village. The idea of Ahadi was born. &lsquo;Ahadi&rsquo; is a Kiswahili word meaning &lsquo;promise&rsquo;. We registered the organisation and started contributing towards the cause. </p> <p align="justify"> Having an idea of what was happening in my village, I thought that it was necessary to share my experiences with other people who have influence in the society. This I did as a way of trying to see whether there are other problems our people are facing in different communities without anyone talking about them and also encourage them to go back to their roots and support the unfortunate people. </p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Celebrity workshop</strong><br> In March 2007, we organised a celebrity&rsquo;s workshop at Mamba Village in Nairobi. More than 100 celebrities attended, including media personalities, artists, models and others. I took them through what I have experienced in my village about jiggers. I also requested them to go back to their rural homes and check whether there are problems that need urgent intervention. I explained to them the need to give back to the community. At the end of the workshop I asked whoever would be interested in joining the fight against jiggers to volunteer. At this point I wanted a known face to talk about the issue. I knew very well that no one would listen to me since I was not known. I was very shocked when no one except Cecilia Mwangi, Miss World Kenya 2005, volunteered. Others were even asking what was in it for them. </p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Miss World Kenya 2005, Cecilia Mwangi - Campaign Ambassador</strong><br> After everybody had left, Cecilia remained behind for more information. She did not believe there were people still infested with jigger given all the modern advancement in technology. For her to be convinced, we arranged to pay a visit to the village the following day.&nbsp; We went to six homes and she could not handle it any more. We found both old and young people bed-ridden owing to jigger infestation. Ms.Cecilia volunteered to be the campaign ambassador and decided to be their voice. </p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Media Launch</strong><br> With Cecilia on board, we organised for a media launch to inform the world of the jigger infestation in Muranga. I knew people would listen to her being a beauty queen. The media could not believe what we were saying and they decided to go on their own the village and confirm. The news that Cecilia has joined the fight against jiggers in Kenya was aired on 1st April 2007. Everybody thought it was Fools&rsquo; Day prank and dismissed it. The media came back with facts and images of badly infested families.</p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Challenges</strong><br> After highlighting the problem on the media, hell broke loose. My own relatives and villagers I have helped for so long warned me against stepping in the village. They claimed I was embarrasing the community. The local politicians came out fighting - inciting people that I want to use the images to solicit for funds for political campaigns (this was an election year). The public health officials claimed I was blowing things out of proportion. The primary school head teachers warned pupils not to come out for treatment. They said jiggers are normal and therefore not a big issue. We decided to seek support from the churches and local administration. All this challenges did not deter us from continuing with our mission. In partnership with the provincial administration and the churches, we embarked on visiting homes of those affected. Since jigger-infested people are usually very poor, we could visit them with foodstuff and clothing. Slowly people started accepting our work in the village.</p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Centers </strong><br> We set up our first Center in my village in May 2007. It would offer the following services; Treatment, fumigation of their homes, education on hygiene, distribution of food and clothing, rehabilitation and empowerment of the community. The media continued highlighting all our activities in the village. Other communities now started seeking our help on the issue of jiggers. We moved our project to other villages opening centers whenever we went. We went from one corner of the country to the other and so far we have opened a total of 41 Centers in Kenya. Our neighbouring countries were no different when it came to jigger infestation. After reading about our mission, people from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi called on us for assistance. We have managed to launch the campaign in both Uganda and Tanzania. Soon, we will be moving to Rwanda. To date, we have registered a total of 2.7 million Kenyans infested with jiggers. </p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Partnerships / Volunteers</strong><br> Due to our persistence and continued media campaigns, the government through the ministry of Public Health joined in and they included the fight against jiggers in their performance contracts. The same happened to the ministry of Provincial Administration. The corporate bodies incorporated the project in their CSR programmes. Individuals started volunteering for our activities. Churches, NGOs and other organised groups started doing the same.</p> <p align="justify"> Currently we have a total of 62 corporate bodies supporting this project and more than 2000 permanent volunteers all over the country.</p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">Success</strong><br> The major success in this project is creating the awareness on jigger infestation in the whole of East Africa. Before launching this project, no one knew anything about jiggers. Opening 41 centers in Kenya, one in Uganda and one in Tanzania has helped in disseminating information on the subject. Rescuing and referring jigger victims to different hospitals. Jigger infestation was been viewed as a social problem and no hospital in Kenya was treating the disease. Today anyone suffering can get treatment from the nearest hospital. </p> <p align="justify"> We have directly provided treatment to more than 300,000 victims and fumigated more than 15,000 homesteads. With the support of well wishers we have distributed 23,000 pairs of shoes, sanitation material, food and clothing to the poor families. </p> <p align="justify"> We have fully treated and rehabilitated 201,000 victims. For the children, we provided them with school equipment and uniforms. We already have bee-keeping and banana-planting projects for the adults as a way of empowering them and stemming the poverty cycle which is the major cause of jigger infestation.</p> <p align="justify"> We have created firm partnerships with the government, private bodies and the communities.</p> <p align="justify"> Ahadi Kenya Trust, Cecilia Mwangi and I have received more than 12 awards both locally and internationally. They include; Head of State Commendation from His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya, Global Leadership and Management 2009 Award, Volunteer Involving Organisation of the Year Award 2010, Humanitarian Organisation of the Year award, Honorary Doctorate and Young Achievers Awards among others.</p> <p align="justify"><strong class="style112">The Future</strong><br> The future of the anti-jigger campaign is to eradicate poverty. Some people are so poor they cannot afford even a simple pin to remove one jigger. They cannot afford sanitation materials including soap, basins and such. We are empowering the communities on how to get involved in simple agricultural activities. By breaking the poverty cycle, we will have eradicated jiggers.&nbsp; </p> <p align="center">&nbsp;</p> <p align="center"><span class="style6">Watch a Video of 'The Journey to a Jigger-Free Society':</span></p> <p align="center" class="style13"> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T-MqZWEC3v0?hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T-MqZWEC3v0?hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> &nbsp;</p> <p align="center" class="style112">&nbsp;</p> <p align="justify" class="style112">&nbsp;</p> <p align="center" class="style6">&nbsp;</p> <p align="center" class="style39">^ <a href="#">Return to top</a> <span class="style17"> I</span> <a href="../index.html">Return to home page </a></p> <p align="center" class="style39">&nbsp;</p> <div align="left"> <table width="100%" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td width="154" bgcolor="#CC0000"><div align="center"><strong class="style16">News Updates:</strong></div></td> <td width="700" rowspan="2" valign="top" bordercolor="#FFFFFF" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <MARQUEE bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%" loop="-1" scrollamount="4" class="style99"> <font color="#0000FF"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117"> 13th April 2011: </span></strong></font><span class="MsoNormal style117 style34">A family of five (5) are admitted at Thika District hospital after severe jigger infestation</span><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117"><span class="style13">...........</span></span></strong><font color="#0000FF"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">26th March 2011</span></strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">:</span></strong></font></font></font></font></font></font><span class="MsoNormal style117 style34"> Recovered jigger victims empowered by being launched a banana project in Muranga</span><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117"><span class="style13">..........</span></span></strong><font color="#0000FF"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">27th February 2011</span></strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">:</span></strong></font></font></font></font> </font><span class="MsoNormal style117 style34">Ahadi Kenya Executuve Director awarded as an Ambassador for Peace</span><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117"><span class="style13">.........</span></span></strong><font color="#0000FF"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">24th February 2011</span></strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">:</span></strong></font></font></font></font></font><span class="MsoNormal style117 style34"> Churches join anti-jigger campaign in Coast province</span><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117"><span class="style13">.........</span></span></strong><font color="#0000FF"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">12th February 2011</span></strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">:</span></strong></font></font></font></font></font><span class="MsoNormal style117 style34"> A 14 year old jigger infested girl impregnated by a 51 year old man in Tetu</span><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117"><span class="style13">......</span></span></strong><font color="#0000FF"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">22nd January 2011</span></strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><span class="MsoNormal style117">:</span></strong></font></font></font></font><span class="MsoNormal style117 style34"> 100 jigger infested families benefit from relief food from Ahadi Kenya</span><span class="MsoNormal style117 style13 style35">.</span><span class="style113"><strong><span class="style13">.... .. . ...... ........</span></strong><span class="style48"><strong><span class="style13"><font color="#FFFFFF">..</font></span></strong></span> <a href="../activities2.html">More information in the ACTIVITIES section</a></span> </MARQUEE> <MARQUEE bgcolor="#FFFFFF" loop="-1" scrollamount="4" width="100%"> </MARQUEE> </font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="18" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </div> <div align="center" class="style3"></div></td> </tr> </table> <!-- Start of StatCounter Code --> <script type="text/javascript"> var sc_project=6421607; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="8b845d67"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js"></script> <!-- End of StatCounter Code --> </body> </html>