Organic Health Response Projects

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The Ekialo Kiona Center:

(Ekialo Kiona Center Floor Plan)

In the Suba Language, Ekialo Kiona can be translated as “whole world” or the "whole community". The Organic Health Response for Mfangano Island will grow out of the Ekialo Kiona center, a “Local Global” facility located at Kitawi Beach on Mfangano East Sub-Division.  Organic farmer and community leader Joel Oguta has generously donated the land for this center.

The Ekialo Kiona Center will be owned and managed by the people of Mfangano, allowing residents to connect with international partners and coordinate the services of numerous NGO’s in Suba District from one location.

Most importantly, The Ekialo Kiona Center will operate as a community wide “Post-Test Club”—providing access to meaningful yet non-essential resources to encourage young people and residents to know their own HIV status. The primary functions of the Ekialo Kiona Center are to: 1) promote the regular use of Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing (VCT); 2) pilot island-wide micro-clinic support program for people living with HIV/AIDS; and 3) promote culturally salient radio programs and information technology workshops for locally-directed health initiatives. 

This open space facility is being constructed by local carpenters from ferro-cement, (an eco-friendly and cost-efficient building material) and will feature the following components:  confidential voluntary counseling and testing rooms; solar-powered computer lab and training classroom with wireless Internet access, library and study room with local and international literature, textbooks and newspapers; and a large outdoor meeting hall for support groups, training workshops, and awareness events.

EK Sustainable Design:

Featuring Ferro-Cement, Wind Cooling, Rain Water Collection, and Solar Power Maximization

(EK Security- Francis)

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The Cyber-VCT Pilot:

Mobilizing Enthusiasm for Internet Access to Encourage HIV Counseling and Testing

(Laptop Internet Lessons)

The Cyber-VCT Pilot represents an innovative extension of the "Post-Test Club" Model. The Cyber-VCT pilot will encourage utilization of HIV testing services by providing access to solar-powered Internet as cover and incentive for participation in a unique Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Program. This action-oriented research pilot will explore the effectiveness of information technology in improving HIV testing, while simultaneously providing a powerful resource for locally-directed health transformation.

OHR has established a research consortium with Oxford University Medical Anthropology, the Kenyan Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Global Health Frameworks Program, and UCSF-KEMRI Family AIDS Care and Education Services (FACES) program to design, implement, and scientifically evaluate this pilot.

With local and expert input, OHR’s Ekialo Kiona Center has been carefully designed to function as the world's first Cyber-VCT Facility. Extensive ethnographic fieldwork and needs assessments have identified that intense local enthusiasm for Internet can provide a meaningful incentive and a valid excuse for residents to overcome the stigma and scrutiny commonly associated with stand-alone VCT centers in rural Kenyan communities. This “cyber” center will be free for use by all club members, predicated solely on bi-annual membership renewal through individualized sessions with a certified VCT counselor. This pilot seeks to activate information technologies to encourage VCT uptake, streamlined treatment referral to FACES clinics, facilitate psycho-social support, and improve health literacy for remote communities across Lake Victoria.

This community owned center will open its doors in Spring 2010, and as the only internet facility or library on the island, will serve as an invaluable educational workshop facility for students, teachers, health workers, farmers, fisherman and other interested community members. Most importantly, the Cyber-VCT program will serve as the access point to enroll participants into Micro-Clinic Island Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS.

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The Micro-Clinic Island Network:

(An Indigenous Network of HIV/AIDS Treatment Support Collectives)

OHR is working in partnership with the Global Micro-Clinic Project to develop a micro-clinic pilot on Mfangano Island for people living with HIV/AIDS. A micro-clinic represents an organic therapy management collective comprised of neighbors, relatives, and friends who come together to provide psycho-social, nutritional, and treatment adherence support for people living with HIV/AIDS. (To read a full description of this project, please see "OHR-GMCP Initiative for HIV/AIDS" attachment at the bottom of this page).

This social solidarity program will be coordinated out of the Ekialo Kiona Center. The Ekialo Kiona Center will feature a large classroom with computers and internet connectivity that will provide space for educational workshops designed to empower communities with practical tools to address HIV/AIDS. These 5-week workshops will provide comprehensive training for self-chosen groups of residents in the pathology of HIV and opportunistic infections, the pharmacology of anti-retroviral treatment and common side-effects, importance of ARV adherence, appropriate nutrition for PLWHA, organic agriculture techniques, environmental sustainability, ways of reducing HIV stigma, and psycho-social support techniques.

Following these workshops, participants will be incorporated into official micro-clinic teams of roughly 5-25 people who will provide ongoing support for family members and friends. This micro-clinic network will serve as the social infrastructure to implement future pilot initiatives for these geographically isolated villages such as community owned organic farm plots, composting bio-gas latrines, solar cooking ovens, and many other health and environmental sustainability projects. 

(Traditional Global Health Interventions)

(Changing the Global Health Paradigm)

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The Ekialo Kiona Community Radio Station:

(An EK Radio Committee meeting in the new EK Center)

The Ekialo Kiona Youth Radio Committee is developing a community radio station that will be coordinated out of the Ekialo Kiona Center. With a 4KW transmitter donated by the Rural Schools Computers and Educational Materials Program, this station will reach tens of thousands of people along the shores of Lake Victoria.

Instead of messages coming from beyond Mfangano, this station will feature community-driven programs aimed at raising health awareness, mobilizing youth activism, improving social solidarity, promoting green thinking, introducing sustainable agriculture and fishing ideas, and preserving the endangered Suba language and cultural identity.   

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OHR Strategy, Administration, and Finance:

(Sam and Lauren)

The Strategy, Administration, and Finance team is currently working on the following projects: 

• 501c3 registration
• Developing an OHR Advisory Council and Board of Directors
• Developing a financial infrastructure
• Developing the OHR website
• Fundraising
• Donations
• Partnerships
• Volunteer coordination

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OHR Sustainable Technology and Design:

(Godfrey, Mookie, and The Secchi Readers )

The Sustainable Technology and Design team is working on the following projects:

• Ekialo Kiona radio design and implementation
• Finalizing the solar-powered computer solutions for the computer lab in the Ekialo Kiona Center.
• Developing sustainable residential community building designs for residents of Mfangano.
• Initiating a solar cooking program
• Establishing a relationship with Bicycles for Humanity to set-up bicycle donations, sales and repair program on Mfangano Island.
• Developing an awareness action plan to promote HIV awareness and safe sex, deforestation and erosion, sanitation and lake pollution, and non-violent communication.

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OHR Agriculture and Nutrition:

(Joel)

The agriculture and nutrition team is working on the following projects:

• Developing OHR agriculture programs
• Registering Mfangano farmers interesting in contributing to sustainable agriculture innovation.
• Establishing contacts with sustainable agriculture organizations and consultants in the US interested in developing programs on Mfangano.
• Developing contacts with Reforestation organizations and “greening initiatives” around Kenya.
• Exploring sustainable crops to improve nutrition and income security on Mfangano.
• Developing HAART Nutrition program design
• Developing herbal medical supplementation
• Creating a Mfangano nutritional cookbook
• Developing a nutrition awareness program