By Sarah Mac Donald - 26 August, 2020
New maternity clinic in Turkwel, a remote and underdeveloped part of Northern Kenya.
The twinning of Ballineaspaig Parish in Ireland with Turkwel Parish in Kenya has generated funds that have enabled the African community to construct a brand new maternity clinic thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Cork community.
The construction work is now in its final stages and equipping the ward is due to commence soon.
Turkwel is in a remote and underdeveloped part of Northern Kenya with a harsh landscape and difficult climate.
Many of the people are pastoralists who make their living by herding goats, cattle and camels over a wide terrain. Their lifestyles are very simple and lack many of the necessities of life, such as clean water, health and medical care, access to education and opportunities to live a secure and settled life.
Sr Pascalia, a member of the Kenyan Sisters of Mary of Kakamega, who is involved in the project, and has also been a health worker at the Lorugum Health Centre for the past 17 years, described the Cork fundraising effort and the building of the maternity ward as “a miracle”.
“It has been a challenge conducting deliveries without a proper maternity ward” she told the Faith in Action Group in Bishopstown. “Such a ward would be the realisation of my dreams for the families here.”
The Faith in Action Group in Bishopstown took on to raise the €90,000 needed for the build, convinced that people would support the effort once they knew how great the need was, and how such a facility would change, improve or save the lives of so many mothers and babies.
After two months fundraising in Cork, the target was exceeded. In addition, an application to Electric Aid for a grant of €10,000 was successful bringing the total value of funds raised to almost €105,000.
This enabled the project to install solar power. This had not been part of the original plan but the Faith in Action Group felt it was important from both an environmental perspective and it would also circumvent the problem of electricity being cut off, which is a feature in many African countries.
The link between the two parishes started in 2005 through prayer for each other and through financial support which has seen great improvements in facilities in Turkwel over the last 15 years.
Shallow wells have been installed in many parts of this large parish to provide the people with a secure and clean supply of drinking water. These wells have also been connected to irrigation schemes to guarantee the growth of crops for a healthy diet for the people in the area. Self-help and sustainability are at the heart of the programme.
The parish priest in Turkwel at the time was Cork man, Fr Oliver Noonan SMA.
“We had nine different irrigation schemes in the parish which were set up as cooperative movements” Fr Noonan explained.
“During my time there we facilitated a rejuvenation of some of the schemes. The Faith in Action Group were one of long term committed partners that we had over the years – something which is characteristic of twinning as opposed to the usual once-of donor agencies.”
According to Matt Moran, author of ‘The Legacy of Irish missionaries Lives On’, “This type of support to communities in very poor parishes in the global south is a real practical example of solidarity and care grounded in Christian values and beliefs.”
He added, “Twinning relationships or partnerships between parishes in Ireland and in African countries are a growing form of modern missionary endeavour at a time when the number of Irish missionaries serving in Africa and the global south is declining.”
The parishioners of Ballineaspaig contributed very significant funds to build two clinics to provide health care for people in the Kalemunyang and Lorugum regions. A difficulty that the clinics encountered was the inadequate supply of medicines to treat the many different illnesses that afflicted these communities.
Fr Noonan and the local people set up a medicines purchasing scheme and employed a qualified pharmacist to ensure that the right medicines were purchased and supplied to the people of Turkwel through Lorugum Health Centre.
This has been a very effective project as the people contribute a small amount to the cost of the medicines and because of the financial support from the people of Ballineaspaig Parish it has been possible to set up mobile clinics to provide medicines and health care for even remoter parts of Turkwel Parish.
Twenty bicycles and five motorbikes were purchased for health workers and nutritionists to visit the most out-lying regions. This is typical of how missionaries have provided such essential services for many decades.
This wooden crucifix is located near the altar in Dennehy’s Cross Church. It is the work of an African woodcarver who was commissioned by the parish in 2013, through Fr Oliver Noonan SMA, to undertake the work. The crucifix provided a commission for Agustino Alikutepa – an artist in Kenya who was a war refugee from Mozambique at the time and has since returned home. It is a visual expression of the partnership between Dennehy’s Cross and Turkwel parishes.
As part of health care, a nutrition/feeding programme for young mothers and children was set up at each clinic. Food supply can be very haphazard due to drought, crop failures, pests and diseases that affect their local crops and wild plants that supply food.
The financial support from Ballineaspaig Parish has given the people the means to prioritise the needs of the youngest and most vulnerable members of their communities and ensure a brighter future for them all.
Education is key in the development of any community and the people of Turkwel identified at an early stage that they needed to expand the small schools in the parish and also to provide clean water supplies for the pupils.
They installed solar panels in each school so that it could act as a community centre for the local people when classes ended each day.
Integrated development was a key focus of the development programme and classrooms have also been used as bases for the mobile health clinics that visit each community on a weekly basis.
“The programme is ongoing and receives constant support from the parishioners of Ballineaspaig Parish” Clare McCutcheon of the Faith in Action Group commented.
“A key part of the success of this development programme has been the ability of the parishioners in Ballineaspaig Parish to source other financial support in Ireland for the programme in Kenya.
Substantial funds have been provided by Electric Aid, and also by SHARP which is funded by donations from over 550 staff of the HSE in counties Cork and Kerry.”
