It's rare in one's whole life, that you can truly reach out and help a people far away.

In Matangwe Kenya, people are dying every day. Daily a new child will course through the rest of his fragile life an orphan. The warmth of the mother's bosom is gone. The glee of tugging at fathers' hair a distant memory...for the parents have died of HIV. Thirty percent of these children will die each year and one hundred percent of the village population will test positive for tuberculosis and malaria.

Before the Kitchener - Conestoga Rotary's world community service committee got involved; the closest hospital was in Kisumo, which is 70km away. An ailing person had to first walk out to the main road; a distance of 7km. Some testing and care could be carried out in nearby Bondo however the treatment is so frightening for the patients at this location that they would rather sit under a shade tree in their familiar little village and wait to die.

Before we became involved there was no medical clinic, no sanctuary for the sick and dying. Now the village has it's own treatment facility. But the challenges continued. The existing solar power was not capable of keeping medication stable. The sterilization of instruments etc had to be transported by bicycle from Matangwe to Bondo. This facility had dubious repute. At night, in the clinic, procedures were carried out by the doctor with the assistance of flashlights (while the batteries lasted). Security, because of no lighting is an issue. Five village men stand watch all night around their cherished little clinic armed with poison tipped arrows and bow.

Just a few short years ago the villagers drank from a single mud pond as the rains only come twice a year in the western highlands of Kenya. They shared the "pond" with beasts of the wild: giraffe, boars, antelope and cats... large cats. The water was diseased, as animals would wade to get relief from the blistering heat. Animal defecation was everywhere fecal bacteria, microbes and parasites were common to the water. Intestinal problems among the children were rampant. Our committee created a well for drinking water. People from miles around now come to gather water; although brackish and sulphurous, this is a nectar to the villagers of Matangwe.

Our work continued. We were able to access an ambulance and send it to Matangwe due to the diligence of Messrs Gerry Thompson and Gerry Schorn. A short while after the ambulance arrived, a highly venomous snake sunk its fangs into the leg of a villager. Had the ambulance not been available to get him to the clinic, the poison most assuredly would have caused respiratory seizure and death. The man is alive!

Ian Murdoch chaired a subcommittee along with Dr. Mike Booth to research the viability of acquiring a generator for the clinic, a building to house the same, all the cables, connectors, splitters required, transportation costs and local land taxes such as cost including freight tax, value added tax, import declaration form tax and insurance charges.

On or about the third week of June 03 a Perkins diesel generator was off loaded onto the tarmac at Nairobi International Airport. A lorrie was hired to ship it to Matangwe. By late July, the clinic had light! If it had not been for Stan West of Grand River Rotary and Stephen Scott the co-ordinator, this author believes the generator would have never gotten out of Nairobi.

Although the need priorities of Matangwe can be obfuscating, the Kitchener - Conestoga Rotary Club and particularly the World Community Service Committee know in our hearts we can never turn our backs on Africa. The death and disease is too great. The flood of new orphans each day too gut wrenching. Generations are lost. We must help. We will help. We have no choice.

Post script - Approximately five months after Gerry Thompson returned from Matangwe. A rogue tribe crossed the lands into the village. It was night. A time for predators. The raid didn't take long. Stephen Scott's second brother fought to protect his village. His carotid artery was sliced with a spear tip and his head bludgeoned beyond recognition. The tribe escaped into darkness. Matangwe will live on...
Ian Murdoch (December 2003)