Kenyan Teen Learns about Health from WiRED International
BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN
D
aniel Odhiambo Ogolollo is a 16-year-old Kenyan whose favorite game is soccer and whose dream is to be an accountant. Since 2013 he has been visiting the KUAP-Pandipieri Community Health Education Center in Kisumu, a city on the edge of Lake Victoria in northwest Kenya. Along with thousands of people in and around Kisumu who visit the center — a resource provided without cost — Daniel learns about health issues from WiRED International’s health education modules.
Three years ago Daniel was on his way to a soccer game when someone told him about the WiRED program. He told a WiRED staff member, “I was very curious to learn about WiRED when my friend said two words: ‘health education.’ Health is a serious predicament in my community, which most residents ignore. They don’t know they are leading dangerous lives.”
Daniel said he has studied too many WiRED modules to mention them all, so he reported on just two: water treatment and HIV/AIDS. He learned how to conserve water by methods such as recycling and using only the amount required for a particular purpose. He also found out how to make water safe to drink by putting it in a plastic bottle and storing it on a housetop for about 6 to 10 hours on a sunny day. The method, called SODIS (solar water disinfection), uses the ultraviolet rays of the sun to kill bacteria, viruses and parasites.
Daniel said, “Reviewing WiRED modules shattered myths about how HIV/AIDS is spread.” Now he understands, for example, that it can be contracted by sharing sharp objects but not by hugging or shaking hands with another person.
When he isn’t learning about health, Daniels attends Kisumu Boys High School, where his favorite subjects are physics and mathematics. He said that his parents are his role models. Daniel credits WiRED for educating his community on a wide variety of health topics and “greatly reducing local cases and even death from many waterborne diseases.”
WiRED believes that educating people about health elevates the well-being of entire communities. All WiRED’s training modules are available cost-free to anyone who visits the centers. WiRED sees health as a human right, and believes that reliable, engaging and interactive presentations are the most effective way to teach individuals and whole communities about healthy practices.
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