For this week’s blog we’d like to tell you about Becky and how her life and lives of other girls like her in Londiani are being changed and improved with your support.

Becky is 11 years old and she was born on March 8th – a very significant date as this is also the date chosen to celebrate International Women’s Day! She has a little sister named Faith. Her dad is a truck driver and her mother is a farmer.

Becky was sick when she was very young and her mother had to take her to the Londiani District Hospital for help. They couldn’t help her there and had to refer her to a hospital in Kericho over 50km away. The Londiani District Hospital has been upgraded since then with support from Friends of Londiani and linked with Mayo General Hospital. If Becky was sick now she wouldn’t need to travel so far for treatment.

The hospital now has a fully commissioned operating theatre thanks to a Friends of Londiani partnership with Irish Aid and Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar. The staff there are supported by the link with MGH through ongoing training in medical skills.

Currently a Maternal Health Shelter is under construction at the hospital. When a woman is due to give birth, very often the journey to hospital adds danger to both mother and baby. The purpose of this structure is to accommodate women who are due to give birth with a comfortable place to wait and to deliver and to provide medical assistance on stand-by if needed.

If you would like to volunteer with Friends of Londiani in Kenya and see these programmes up close and personal click here for more information.

Photo: Becky at school