Locals set out to save lives

A team of volunteers from a number of Tweed organisations are set to travel to Kenya to work to improve the lives of residents in a poor rural village.
As a volunteer for the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program, Council’s Senior Construction Engineer Nigel Dobson will work with Kenyans to rehabilitate the Gona Dam at Obambo Kadenge. This is a very poor area of rural Kenya, located some six to eight hours west of Nairobi.
Nigel will have some company, with a further 12 volunteers – many Tweed residents – set to join him in the village as they help the district’s residents in their own ways.
While Nigel’s focus will be establishing a fresh, safe water supply for drinking, Murwillumbah midwife Lyle Burgoyne and a small team of nurses and other volunteers from Kenya Health will meet him in the village to conduct health clinics to administer free medicine, medical treatment and advice.
A further group – Nigel’s wife, Tiffany Dobson, mother Helen Dobson and friends Hopal McClintock and Cara Gately – will travel to the village with Kenya Health, but will stay on after the clinics are completed to work with the grandmothers of the village and students in the nearby school to teach basic health and sanitation.
Another two independent volunteers from Murwillumbah, Cathy and Nicole Heffernan, will be working in an orphanage at Nakuru. It is this same orphanage that Kenya Health uses as a “home” base while running clinics.
“We knew about each other’s work and organisations through contacts with various Seventh Day Adventist churches but it is amazing that we can all work together at the one time in the one location to improve the lives of the people of this village,” Nigel said.
The aim of the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program project – known as Safe Water Four – is to provide an accessible and hygienic drinking water supply for the district’s 6000 residents. The project will increase the storage capacity of the existing dam and boost water security for residents.
“Clean water will be achieved by installing new SkyJuice? SkyStations, an ingenious water treatment unit that utilises membrane microfiltration to purify dam water without the need for chemicals or power,” Nigel said.
“The unit used is produced by the Skyjuice Foundation, who is a major project partner in the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program.”
Nigel Dobson is following in the footsteps of three of his Council colleagues, who have also delivered water projects in Kenya as volunteers – Tom Alletson, Marty Hancock and Sebastien Garcia-Cuenca.
“Safewater Four is at the same site as Safewater One, the Gona Dam. When the dam is dry, it is a five-kilometre walk to the next water source, which is salty,” Mr Dobson said.
“Our aim for Safewater Four is to work with the community to restore and increase the capacity of the dam so it is a permanent source of water all year round.”
Nigel will use his own annual leave for the trip, and flies out tomorrow to Kenya for about a month.
The Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program is an initiative of Tweed Shire Council and the International River foundation.
For more information, visit Council’s website www.tweed.nsw.gov.au
Kenya Health was founded by Murwillumbah registered nurse and midwife, Lyle Burgoyne, three years ago.
Paying for their own travel and other costs, Lyle and other volunteers have travelled to Kenya many times to hold the health clinics, which attract 300 to 400 people per day.
“There’s no free health care in Kenya, and there’s such a great need,” Lyle said. “We treat basic things like malaria, pneumonia, ear infections – anything we can treat, we provide free medication for.
“The project has recently expanded to include a local Kenyan health worker and nurse, who can continue the work of following up patients after we leave.”
Lyle felt something more was needed when he met a man whose arm had been broken, and untreated for two years.
“He had been bashed two years ago and his fracture was still floating around,” Lyle said.
“We started using the local doctors to provide operative services and paying for these services so these people could have some sort of normal life.”
The Kenya Health and other volunteers will leave for Kenya in a fortnight.
For more information about Kenya Health, visit the website www.kenyahealth.org.

A team of volunteers from a number of Tweed organisations are set to travel to Kenya to work to improve the lives of residents in a poor rural village.As a volunteer for the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program, Council’s Senior Construction Engineer Nigel Dobson will work with Kenyans to rehabilitate the Gona Dam at Obambo Kadenge. This is a very poor area of rural Kenya, located some six to eight hours west of Nairobi. Nigel will have some company, with a further 12 volunteers – many Tweed residents – set to join him in the village as they help the district’s residents in their own ways.While Nigel’s focus will be establishing a fresh, safe water supply for drinking, Murwillumbah midwife Lyle Burgoyne and a small team of nurses and other volunteers from Kenya Health will meet him in the village to conduct health clinics to administer free medicine, medical treatment and advice.A further group – Nigel’s wife, Tiffany Dobson, mother Helen Dobson and friends Hopal McClintock and Cara Gately – will travel to the village with Kenya Health, but will stay on after the clinics are completed to work with the grandmothers of the village and students in the nearby school to teach basic health and sanitation.Another two independent volunteers from Murwillumbah, Cathy and Nicole Heffernan, will be working in an orphanage at Nakuru. It is this same orphanage that Kenya Health uses as a “home” base while running clinics.“We knew about each other’s work and organisations through contacts with various Seventh Day Adventist churches but it is amazing that we can all work together at the one time in the one location to improve the lives of the people of this village,” Nigel said.The aim of the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program project – known as Safe Water Four – is to provide an accessible and hygienic drinking water supply for the district’s 6000 residents. The project will increase the storage capacity of the existing dam and boost water security for residents.“Clean water will be achieved by installing new SkyJuice? SkyStations, an ingenious water treatment unit that utilises membrane microfiltration to purify dam water without the need for chemicals or power,” Nigel said.“The unit used is produced by the Skyjuice Foundation, who is a major project partner in the Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program.”Nigel Dobson is following in the footsteps of three of his Council colleagues, who have also delivered water projects in Kenya as volunteers – Tom Alletson, Marty Hancock and Sebastien Garcia-Cuenca.“Safewater Four is at the same site as Safewater One, the Gona Dam. When the dam is dry, it is a five-kilometre walk to the next water source, which is salty,” Mr Dobson said.“Our aim for Safewater Four is to work with the community to restore and increase the capacity of the dam so it is a permanent source of water all year round.”Nigel will use his own annual leave for the trip, and flies out tomorrow to Kenya for about a month.The Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program is an initiative of Tweed Shire Council and the International River foundation. For more information, visit Council’s website www.tweed.nsw.gov.auKenya Health was founded by Murwillumbah registered nurse and midwife, Lyle Burgoyne, three years ago. Paying for their own travel and other costs, Lyle and other volunteers have travelled to Kenya many times to hold the health clinics, which attract 300 to 400 people per day.“There’s no free health care in Kenya, and there’s such a great need,” Lyle said. “We treat basic things like malaria, pneumonia, ear infections – anything we can treat, we provide free medication for.“The project has recently expanded to include a local Kenyan health worker and nurse, who can continue the work of following up patients after we leave.”Lyle felt something more was needed when he met a man whose arm had been broken, and untreated for two years.“He had been bashed two years ago and his fracture was still floating around,” Lyle said.“We started using the local doctors to provide operative services and paying for these services so these people could have some sort of normal life.”The Kenya Health and other volunteers will leave for Kenya in a fortnight.For more information about Kenya Health, visit the website www.kenyahealth.org.

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