Thanksgiving Message from WiRED International
Supporting Those in Need Worldwide
By Allison Kozicharow; Edited by Elizabeth Fine
WiRED International’s board and volunteers wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
This American holiday is about sharing, and this year that must include the sharing of programs and resources to promote good health and to prevent and treat illness. While we give thanks for the blessings in our lives, we also remember the people in need who live in our own communities and around the world. For the fortunate, Thanksgiving means a bountiful meal, but for far too many living in underserved communities this day and every day lead to starvation from food scarcity, disease, political conflict and climate change-linked extreme weather.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and plan on how we can use our time, talents and resources to help people who face hunger, dislocation and illness. To everyone who has made our programs possible, and to everyone who has used them to improve their own health and the health of their communities, we at WiRED send you our sincere best wishes during this season of thanks.
Spotlight on WiRED’s Community Health Workers in Western Kenya
WiRED’s CHWs are a paraprofessional corps of local people expertly trained using a World Health Organization-compliant curriculum along with a requirement to earn annual credits through WiRED’s Continuing Medical Education Program.
Our CHWs offer a host of services that elevate the health of their communities. Along with providing basic clinical services, CHWs improve health behaviors such as adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapy, diabetes management and TB treatment completion, childhood immunization and early prenatal care. They offer health education and health surveillance and become the bridge between their communities and the formal health system.
WiRED is grateful for the 22 CHWs (10 newly deployed) who work tirelessly in their communities where last month they reached an astounding total of 12,268 people with healthcare assistance. Here are their names:
Collins Guda
Juliete A. Omollo
Tracy Agatha Achieng’
Liz Odhiambo
Bunnyce Atieno
Imelda Anyango
Emily Ayua
Pauline Adhiambo
Mildred Digolo
Daniel Ochieng
Daniel Ayieko
Zachary Omondi
Nelly Oyule
Millicent Randiki
Milka Nyadiang’a
Linet Awuor
Lency Mmbone
Irene Achieng
Steve Wonder
Denis Onyango
Vincent Ochieng
Joseph Ochieng
Reminder: The Sister Bernadette Sunshine-Mitzvah Fund
This holiday season people in the western region of Kenya, where WiRED International serves, continue to face hunger as the climate change-related drought and the ongoing war in Ukraine make food increasingly scarce and more expensive.
WiRED’s assistance with the Sister Bernadette Sunshine-Mitzvah Fund provides funds to support the purchase of groceries for people in the western part of Kenya, and the help around Christmas is especially important, especially to families with children. All money collected goes directly to purchase food — with zero spent on administration or on anything else.
