Kenya 2024: Reflections of a Humanitarian Osteopath
Deep in the Kenyan bush, far from the tourist trails live the indigenous tribes of Pokot, where I begin my 2 week medical expedition with the charity, Divinity Foundation.
The tribe lives simple, mostly uneducated lives, surviving with drought, famine, dust, flash floods and extreme heat.
Their way of life is tough, especially those of the girls, who are forced to endure female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic violence, child marriage and rape. Bought and sold like commodities.
One of my patients had been slashed across her face with a stick by her husband whilst feeding her baby, both mother and child severely injured, yet she asked me not to report it for fear of worsening beatings.
We spend 3 days camping in the grounds of a church, sunrise workouts, treatments for around 1000 women and children, food packing and distributing, and finally playtime and prayers surrounded by this extraordinary community.
Despite their hardships, the women are open, trusting and welcoming, and greet us with laughter, funky hand shakes, singing and dancing!
What an incredible privilege to be able to meet and help this remote and traditional tribe.
From Pokot we travel south to Amboseli to work with the Masai communities living in isolation under the gaze of Mt Kilimanjaro.
FGM is practised routinely here and it lies at the heart of pelvic inflammatory disease, pelvic congestion, incontinence, period pains, infertility and fistula.
Women and girls lie on our tables with their legs tightly clenched together, crossed over and tensed. Their bodies feel hard, braced, shocked and traumatised. They cannot relax to have their hips, knees or legs mobilised, so we do what we can with such resistance, working with remote, gentle and indirect techniques.
Smoke filled huts, extreme dust and lack of clean water are the main cause of the high rates of lung and bladder infections that we see amongst the Masai communities.
The women and children here have it tough.
We do what we can with medication, osteopathic treatment, advice and referrals, but ultimately our hands are the messengers of respect, kindness and compassion.
This speaks volumes in such harsh conditions.
I can only hope that our efforts have made a difference as I remember the phrase…
‘It will never be enough, but it will never be too little’
Your donations have given so much pleasure and joy, and it has been an utter privilege to be the person to hand out your gifts of trackies, baby clothes, school uniform, bags, caps and stationary.
Thank you to all of you that have donated money and clothes, you have made this expedition possible for me, and together we have helped over 2000 women and children.
The Masai songs of praise and gratitude have filled my heart and truly touched my soul, and I pass their deep appreciation and thankfulness on to you.
Special thanks goes to Godolphin and Farleigh schools for the donations of uniform, Knight Frank for their goodie bags of stationary and caps, and all those that have brought in arm loads of navy trackies!
For more photos of my expedition and details of how to donate to my work, the charity or sponsoring a girl in the FGM Rescue Centre, please visit the website or social media.
Emma Wightman
www.the-sop.com