Rain isn’t always a disappointment…
In the UK we like to moan on a daily basis about the weather. It’s too cold, it’s too hot (when it rises above 18 degrees), it’s too windy and of course (the all-time favourite), it’s always raining. Kenyans are happy right now, because it’s raining.
After too long without rain and the disaster that brings for people here, particularly in the rural areas, it is a godsend. Crops have failed and many people and animals have died from starvation, many more are malnourished. Imagine the financial impact on your family when your livestock die or there is no harvest and nothing to sell or to eat. We are not talking about one less holiday this year or downsizing from a two to one car family. When life is so precarious, even a small reduction in income can spell disaster.
I am in Kenya at the moment for a series of meetings, the SPRINT training (fortuitously being held at Lake Naivasha) and the RAISE family Planning training in Nairobi. Both trainings support programming of reproductive health in emergency settings, whether it be caused by war, instability or natural disaster. The importance of reproductive health and for a couple being able to control their fertility, particularly in difficult times, is enormous.
In emergency or crisis settings reproductive health is all too often neglected and thought of much later on, with the focus being on water, food and shelter in the initial phases.
The SPRINT training is aimed at preparing health professionals and programmers to ‘be ready’ and have emergency preparedness strategies for reproductive health in place at the earliest possible moment after the onset of a crisis. The includes policy, coordination and service delivery activities as well as ensuring you have the right people with the right skills and availability of equipment to save lives of women and young girls caught up in emergencies in different parts of the world.
The RAISE Initiative is currently running a family planning training in Nairobi, training healthcare providers in the clinical skills they need to offer men and women the ability to control their own fertility, which does not cease to function during a crisis. These providers will be able to offer a choice of modern contraceptive methods in the settings they work. Family planning also has a positive impact on maternal death and unsafe abortion, both of which rise during an emergency.
I went for a walk yesterday around Lake Naivasha and took a boat ride to spot some of the wide variety of animals there are here. The lake is wider today than it is last year. The much awaited rains have created a larger playground for the hippos, giraffes, zebras and amazing bird life. The long grasses and abundance of fish means there is a veritable feast here for all creatures. The local people are benefiting too. The animals attract the much needed tourist industry to the area. Of course the future is all dependent on continued rains in coming years. In other areas of the country, excessive rain has caused flooding and many people have lost their homes and their livelihoods. Efforts have been made to provide humanitarian assistance to those populations. Reproductive healthcare is included in that response.
Perhaps the next time we think about the weather were we live we should think about the real impact on our daily lives and how much of our lives it truly affects. As the ash cloud persists over Europe, my time here may well be prolonged, but I will no doubt get back home at some point, relatively unscathed and hopefully not complaining about the disappointing spring or the long cold winter behind us.