Touching the void

The Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health, or TICAH, has long made its mark on disenfranchised communities throughout Nairobi. Founded in 2003 by Mary Ann Burris, the organization recognized that many international health and development agencies weren’t paying close enough attention to indigenous cultures and their traditions, including herbal medicines, foods, the arts, music, rights and rituals.

By 2005, the trust began working with HIV support groups in the slums. Through active listening and participation,TICAH worked with peer groups to come up with local solutions for local issues: How do you pay for the doctor? For food? Which illnesses to you suffer from most? How do you manage childcare? What do you consider a healthy diet?

Throughout these sessions, a teaching tool was born. “In 2010, we created our first Community Calendar. We wanted to stimulate discussion and learning in the support groups in these slums, so the first edition included information about water, diet, rights, and sex,” explains Mary Ann. “It also raised issues related to child abuse, friendship, health services and community coherence. It seemed to create a movement. We were ‘sparking’persons in the slums to learn and to lead.”

For 2012, TICAH has built upon its success by creating a health education tool that is provocative and practical. In addition to highlighting good qualities such as kindness, fairness, honesty, hope and peace, this new version, like 2011’s, is called “Mbegu Njema/Good Seeds.” Each month features a “healthy seed” for a critical aspect of Kenyan life. What’s happening in our new constitution, in our gardens, in homes, in schools, in kitchens? “Something to Discuss” targets families and community support groups, providing coverage on household budgeting, food choices, children’s safety and local leadership.

Monthly quotations are designed to inspire or provoke, and the date pad is filled with an unprecedented array of historical lessons, facts and persons, many of them local. Several contemporary Kenyan artists, writers and photographers donate their work to this compelling and beautiful teaching tool.“At its heart is an understanding of ‘health’ that reaches from what we eat and how we love, to what health services we need and what our rights are,” explains Mary Ann.

“The stories that come back to us are both moving and motivational. We’ve heard back about forgiveness and kindness, and about debates – fruitful ones! – on fairness and peace. During ‘Patience Month’, a husband stopped beating his daughter. One woman said to me that the Community Calendar was the only new piece of art in her home. There are tons of these stories, and the conversations go deeper and deeper. The calendar is both a gift and a curriculum,” Mary Ann adds.

To order, kindly email JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING , or call 051.800.6816. For every calendar you buy,TICAH will donate one to community outreach, children’s art projects, schools or clinics. Also available at a number of Nairobi bookstores

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