Proud and Mirriam in August of 2022

Proud and Ireen Matete in March of 2024

In 2022, during a monthly weighing day in Kasompe, Zambia, the kafwa hosting the event noticed a young, school-age girl bringing a baby girl to be weighed. Concerned about why such a young kid was coming alone with her baby sister, the health workers went to meet her mother. The mother, Mirriam, was unable to move most of one side of her body due to an injury months earlier. Unfortunately, with no other guardian in the home, the family needed to rely heavily on the kindness of neighbors to feed the two daughters, but Mirriam was hardly eating and unable to produce enough milk to breastfeed her baby.

The Kafwa adopted the family as their clients, and started to support them with regular visits, bringing mealie meal and making a very thin porridge with ground nuts for baby Proud. The team also decided to pay for transport so Mirriam could visit a physical therapist to help regain some use on the injured side of her body. Now, Mirriam can use a crutch to move around her home, and Proud can walk and is growing well! Kafwa coordinator Ireen Matete and the team continue to visit with the family, providing as much support as they can. We hope to continue to hear good news from our friends in Kasompe as they help home-bound clients like Mirriam and weigh and monitor children like Proud!

Today, we recognize International Women’s Day and the importance of empowered women in our families, communities, and countries. This year's IWD theme is “Invest in women: Accelerate progress” ,and with a goal of gender equality by 2030 everyone must work together, through financial and institutional support, to reach this critical goal. We are proud to showcase one of the ways we invest in women to accelerate progress: nursing scholarships!

Scholarship recipients, selected by a committee of professional nurses, pursue their nursing degrees and impact their communities through skilled and compassionate care. Nursing scholars have represented ten countries, including the United States, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, and Zambia. Some have no connection to our volunteer community health worker programs but are dedicated to supporting community health, like Chileshe Chunda, who shared: “Ever since I joined the health department, I have understood the importance of life. I would like to be given the opportunity to continue changing and saving lives.” Others have deep connections to our volunteer health worker colleagues and plan to take their expertise into the field, helping those in their community who lack access to care. Carol Chisenga, a third-year student, shared, “Being trained to be a lifesaver has really changed my life…I have so much passion for the community and, most importantly, the health of the vulnerable people whose health is not fully considered.”

We have seen firsthand how investing in and educating women can change communities. Elevating women in professional spaces and addressing education gaps has improved information access for others around them, as the nurses have shared their time and knowledge with patients, health workers, and home health clients. We are proud to support their professional aspirations and honored to partner with generous supporters who are passionate about investing in women!

Our colleagues in Zambia work hard to keep their communities safe! A recent cholera outbreak has greatly affected the country and delayed school openings. Due to this, community advocates (like the Kafwa), Ministry of Health officials, and school leaders have been working hard to keep everyone healthy. In Mapalo, Kafwa leader Joyce Songwe taught at church about sanitation procedures and ways to prevent the spread of the disease. Ministry of Health officials visited all schools to ensure proper environmental hygiene and hand washing protocols were in place, so students could stay healthy once classes resumed. And now, as the community continues to be on high alert, the Mapalo Kafwa team is taking chlorine to clients to help disinfect their drinking water, along with food support for those in great need.

Community advocates like our health worker colleagues make a significant impact in situations like these! They help fill in gaps where ministry officials cannot offer more support, take information to their home health clients, and educate community members with valuable knowledge with the goal of keeping everyone healthy. As you can see in the photos, the team is prepared and ready to serve!

Our nursing scholars serve with heart! In a week that celebrates both International Day of Women and Girls in Science and Valentine’s Day, we want to highlight two young nurses from Nepal who showcase life-changing care!

Pabitra (right) wanted to go into nursing with an interest in the “work and dedication towards the patient” from a young age. With scholarship support through HealthEd Connect, Pabitra has finished her program and is working in a hospital! Her dreams don’t stop at her professional career though, as she wrote in a letter that “studying nursing and getting a certificate is not enough. I want to help the people who are far away from the health services and health care facilities.”

Sara (left), has finished the majority of her nursing program and is getting ready to write her final exams! Sara has a heart for serving, having decided to join as a volunteer health worker even before receiving a scholarship, and volunteering as a medical helper for a children’s organization during her program. She wrote of the impact of experiences like these, saying “It feels so good to serve those passionate little souls who were dedicated towards their goals.”

It’s a privilege to support nursing scholars like Pabitra and Sara! Young professionals like these women change lives and impact communities. Your gift towards nursing scholarships, supporting women in science and life-changing care, makes all the difference. Thank you!

Woman in Biratnagar, stylishly bringing refreshments to community health worker visitors at her home

We are happily preparing to be with our partners in Nepal this month! After several years apart, some of the HealthEd Connect headquarters team will be making the journey this week. We’ll be able to visit Ramprasad and see how the sanitation program in Gorkha has grown, protecting the community from illnesses. A visit to Biratnagar with Sangeeta and her volunteer team to learn about the frequent health awareness camps they facilitate and ask selected community members how the cookstoves are improving smoke-related health issues. And in Kathmandu with Pinkey, the Nepal leadership team will gather and spend dedicated time collaborating, planning, and envisioning what the future could look like in their own communities and for their volunteer team. We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to visit with our Nepalese colleagues in person and see the impact they are making firsthand!

Friends, thank you for journeying with us in our mission to empower women and children through evidence-based health, education, and advocacy! Community health worker volunteers, teachers, coordinators, staff, and supporters have all come together to build up families, brighten futures, and strengthen communities. Building sustainable change and creating new cycles takes time, but as the saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

We are going far, thanks to you all! We are grateful for the many people who are going together with us into 2024 and building upon another year of improving lives through health, education, and advocacy.

We’re so excited to share a success story from the Luapula province of Zambia! Coordinator Jane Chibwe shared with us about one mother’s experience with the weighing and monitoring program supported by the Kafwa. Jane shared this message:

“Look at the big smile [of] Mrs Chilufya and her daughter! Today she came looking for me at mulundu community center to testify that her child is alive and grown up well. In 2018 during our under five [clinic weighings], as Kafwa team, we found this child, Under weight to health chart, she was almost to death not at growth weight. We sent photos to Sherri [HealthEd Connect co-founder and health trainer], and she advised us how to give the child the balanced diet. Friends this child made us start planning out how we can have our own garden in order to save the lives of children in our community. It was a surprise to see Mrs Chilufya with her [daughter] today at mulundu community center, asking me ‘Jane do you remember this child, you helped me alot on this child's health. She is alive and grown up well, I came looking for you to thank, you and your team.’ She also left the child at the center that she will be learning with her friends now, and I was very happy and excited too, I never thought this child could be alive as well. This is our best moments to remember our good work indeed.”

Mrs. Chilufya’s story is the reason why it’s so important to have community health workers like our Kafwa friends in Luapula! They were able to identify this child’s needs, work with the mother to improve her daughter’s nutrition, and now, years later, are seeing this girl healthy and eager to learn at the community school they’ve developed at Mulundu center. We are thrilled to share such an uplifting experience from Jane and Mrs. Chilufya!

The Kathmandu team in Nepal helped to host a women’s clinic! This clinic provided important health access, identifying and addressing issues for the women attending. Blood pressure checks, cervical screenings, and more were made available, and our community health workers gave essential support by gathering attendees and providing assistance to the hospital clinicians.

Coordinator Pinkey Malla shared about their experience, saying:

“We did a women’s health camp and women came to check their uterus and also did VIA (cervical cancer) test. Nurses from Marei Stop Hospital brought all the equipment and medicine for each woman. If the women had infection or problem we managed some of the medicine and referred to hospital for further treatment. Volunteers helped by registering women (names, contacts), taking weight and blood pressure, making prescriptions and reports and after check ups, giving advice according to their report. Volunteers also helped to gather the women [for the clinic].”

Get a feel for what this event looked like with a quick TikTok video from our Nepal Coordinator, Pinkey!