Since 2007, Hope Church has partnered with St. Paul’s Health Center, a locally-founded and locally-operated health center in rural western Kenya.  St. Paul’s mission is to promote spiritual, mental, social and physical well-being through prevention of disease, care for the sick, support for the needy, and advocacy for the vulnerable. In 2006, Hope Church covenant partners Amara and Matt Mulder spent six months in Ugunja working with the health center; it was out of this experience that the partnership between Hope Church and St. Paul's evolved.

Preventing malaria

Malaria is a common and deadly disease in Kenya, killing about 34,000 people each year (and over 1 million people worldwide). Malaria is caused by a parasite which is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. In humans, the parasites infect red blood cells and cause fever and severe flu-like symptoms.  Malaria used to be common in the US but was eradicated in the 1950s by widespread DDT application. The illness can be treated with medicine, but drug-resistant parasites are more and more common. Insecticide-treated bed nets help prevent the disease.

St. Paul's Health Center tests for and treats malaria for their standard patient fee of 70 cents, which makes treatment more affordable than it is at other health centers.  St. Paul's also provides free bed nets to families with children or pregnant women. A bed net costs about $5 each; Hope Church’s monthly contribution of $100 could buy 20 life-saving bed nets for families in Ugunja.

Women’s and children's health

St. Paul's opened its maternal and child health center, helped by over $6,000 raised at Hope Church at a 2007 Bluegrass Harvest Festival fundraiser. This center has been an enormous benefit to the Ugunja community.  It provides essential care free-of-charge to all pregnant women and, after delivery, their children. Services include routine health checks for pregnant women and children, preventive treatment of malaria, provision of free insecticide-treated bed nets, nutritional support, and childhood immunizations. A family planning clinic provides contraceptive counseling and free contraceptives. A labor and delivery ward conducts deliveries and provides HIV testing and prevention of mother-to-child transmission, infant care supplies such as clothing and diapers, and postpartum care.

HIV services and primary care

St. Paul’s has continued to grow in many other ways.  An integral part of the health center is its comprehensive HIV treatment and care program. Since 2006, over 900 HIV-positive community members have enrolled and receive free-of-charge services including voluntary counseling and testing, prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections, antiretroviral therapy, laboratory testing, community outreach, nutritional support, psychosocial counseling, and advocacy.

In addition to its HIV program and maternal and child services, St. Paul’s offers a primary care clinic for all adults and children, a pharmacy, a laboratory, a recovery ward, a nutrition clinic, a community outreach program, and an advocacy and research department. The primary care clinic provides all of its services for a flat registration fee of 70 cents per visit, with lab services and medicines both provided free-of-charge.  In total, St. Paul’s now serves more than 1000 patients each month.

Staff Profile: Mary Omondi, Voluntary Counseling & Testing

Mary Omondi (pictured) has served as a community health worker since 2000 and as an HIV testing counselor and dental hygiene educator since 2005. Mary is passionate about her work.  “I have the skills to help the community… people are suffering in so many ways—this is the place to use our skills to help people,” she says. Outreach, she insists, is the key to reaching the community. Putting this belief into action, Mary has been involved in education and outreach in the areas of nutrition, home-based care training, voluntary counseling and testing for HIV, reproductive health, and water sanitation.  Mary is also works for women’s rights in inheritance and land settlements.  She is truly a warrior for health and change in the community of Ugunja.  In addition to her health work, Mary runs a salon-soda shop and a restaurant in downtown Ugunja.  She lives with her six biological children, several adopted children, and husband Aggrey, who directs the Ugunja Community Resource Centre.

Continued support by Hope Church for community health

Since 2008, Hope Church has provided support to the clinic’s community health workers and outreach program through Common Hope for Health, a non-profit which Amara and Matt Mulder helped establish that raises funds for St. Paul’s Health Center. The community health department aims to promote health at its roots: in the home and in the community. Thus far, 47 villagers have been trained in community health.  Each is responsible for promoting health in twenty households through home visits, encouragement of mosquito net use and water sanitation, and identification of sick individuals in need of further care. The community outreach department also organizes weekly mobile clinics at remote villages that are not within walking distance of a health care facility. This support helps St. Paul’s reach those who are too far from the clinic or too sick to come in. It also enables St. Paul’s to bring health education out into the community.

We are excited that our community of faith at Hope is able to partner with such a dynamic, dedicated community of hope and healing in Kenya.  As we seek to deepen our partnership with St. Paul’s, we welcome your input and involvement—please contact the Hope Church Social Justice committee, socialjustice@hopeboston.org, for information on how to become involved.

More images of the health center and its community

Dan, a long-time nurse at St. Paul's, provides care at a patient's home.

A St. Paul's staff member visits a patient in her home. The patient has since recovered her health and become chair of the HIV/AIDS support group at St. Paul's.

St. Paul's lab offers diagnosis for malaria, typhoid, and parasites.

Some of the St. Paul's staff gather outside the new maternity center.

St. Paul's Methodist Church, site of the health center.

In Ugunja where St. Paul's is located, most people are subsistence farmers.

A typical Luo housing compound, served by St. Paul's Health Center.

Children at St. Paul's pre-school say their morning prayers.