AfriAfya is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that was set up in April 2000, to explore ways to harness information and communication technologies (ICTs) for community health and development in rural and marginalized areas of Africa. Their mission is to create universal and equitable access to quality health and development for remote communities by delivering health and medical information where there is no doctor.
The establishment of community resource centers – one of their strategies – has seen an increase from the initial 7 pilot sites in 2001 to over 40 sites by 2016 in different parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Sudan and other countries in eastern Africa. Their focus continues to explore more innovative approaches to the use of ICTs for improved health and, their multi-level collaboration with other organizations and the villagers is more vibrant than ever.
I was introduced to AfriAfya through my mentor Don Simpson, when we were working together at a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. I was Global Director of Innovation and Strategic Deployment. Don has the patient ability to plant seeds and water them, often waiting for that perfect time to pick the ready fruit. He had taught me that he had learned ‘that adventure is risk with purpose and that satisfaction is service over income’. He had watched my disillusionment with my then, current path. In 2007, Don asked me to
facilitate a meeting in America with Dr. Caroline Kisia, Director of AfriAfya and Joyce Naisho, Maasai Board member of AfriAfya to take place at my home in Newport, Rhode Island. The purpose of the three-day session was to assist AfriAfya in becoming 501 (c) 3 legal in the United States. After days of focused brainstorming and problem solving and the final packing to return to Kenya … Caroline and Joyce, in the car to the airport, asked me to be the Chair of the American Board. Don knew where to put the pieces to ensure the inevitable would happen. And, there it began.
With much ado, Caroline and Joyce consulted Don Simpson and Dr. Chris Wood, the Chair of the AfriAfya Board, and exclaimed their enthusiasm. My immersion ensued. I was to travel to Kenya, anchor myself with Chris Wood in Karen, Kenya, travel and stay in Kismee, Kenya, travel to Juba, South Sudan (before the liberation) travel to Kampala, Uganda, back to Chris Wood to clean up and then off to the Maasai with Chris and Bizue Kanja to experience as many ICT sights as possible and to meet the community members. It was enthusiastic children and their parents celebrating and demonstrating their computer and agricultural skills replete with mud huts, river baths, goats on a stick, land mines, mud roads, and artillery guns.
In South Sudan, Caroline had arranged for me to travel with the former Commander of the Commandos, Redento, for security. One morning on the dirt roads into Juba, we were pulled over by armed men who demanded I give up my American passport. Redento told me to do as they asked, and he would sort it out. Caroline was so incredulous; she videoed the whole thing. Redento kept his word, I will never know how, but he got my passport returned in a few days. I am forever grateful. Needless to say, my payback was to get AfriAfya 501 (c) 3 legal in America.
The real work was just to begin. Think about it. This was 2008. AfriAfya was on the right track.
In 2009 Kenya eHealth set a draft strategy “At its core, health is a knowledge industry with information being central to all aspects of care, planning, management and delivery.” AfriAya’s uniqueness was that we worked directly with community change agents to package health and development knowledge targeted to the specific needs and cultures of each different locale. The resource centers were self- sustaining and run by community members. The buildings were set up with solar panels and generators and equipped with printed reference materials, computers and printers, CD’s and videos, video and camera equipment and eventually with smart phones that could be loaned for periods of time with focused content. As an example, due to the long distances for people to access local hospitals or doctors, a smart phone could be loaned to a family when a mom-to-be was nearing her due date. The smart phone had content about the birthing process with medical information on how to handle possible complications. Once the birth was made, the smart phone was returned. AfriAfya measured themselves through knowledge testing, disease and illness rates, and community member’s involvement and enthusiasm for the processes. Privacy, empowerment and continuous improvement were paramount.
By the time I retired from the board, AfriAfya was collaborating with several other NGO’s. Caroline had taken on a monumental role as Director of Action Africa-International, Dr. Chris Wood had passed away and Don Simpson, in his relentless and imaginative way, persevered on the broader African Health mission. It’s odd to look back as it seems like such a blur. I navigated from a global innovation change agent in corporate America to a global change agent for African health.
My oldest sister once queried: “How do these things happen to you?”. Well, I guess things do happen to me! I wrote a doctoral thesis on The Humanization of the Technological Man to achieve a Ph.D. in Organizational Ethics. I practiced organizational ethics at multinationals, which sometimes meant I had to confront the C-Suite. When Caroline’s invitation to join AfriAfya, I saw a chance to practice humanization. I guess, like Don, I too put the right pieces in place early on in life.