On Monday I had quite a walk running errands. It was as if I was in a marathon, connecting places and chasing time, because I had limited time to get to the afternoon class. I alighted at Traffic police station, and walked all the way to Upper Hill road. All this time, I was cursing the matatu for taking me that far. Coming from the office at Upper hill, I walked like a vehicle to Integrity Center, through to Milimani road. On reaching my next stop, I was thoroughly exhausted. The drive to reach class at two o'clock kept me going. After my delivery at the office, I only had six minutes to rush to Daystar University. Luckily, I managed to reach class at ten past two, when the lecturer was just starting the class. My feet were begging for mercy and got rescued when I slumped on the chair ready for the lecture.
The whole experience made me think critically about Kenya's first lady, Margaret Kenyatta. Just this Saturday, the 50 year old mama wa taifa participated in the London Marathon for a noble cause of raising money to build mobile clinics to help improve maternal health in the Beyond Zero campaign.
Already Mrs Kenyatta has raised funds for ten mobile clinics out of the targeted 47, with each county expected to get one. “Our target is to raise 3.6 million pounds to buy mobile clinics for all the 47 counties in Kenya.” Last month, she raised Sh100 million from the 21 kilometer First Lady’s Half Marathon held in Nairobi.
Although Mrs. Kenyatta had prepared well for the marathon, she is not an elite athlete as the renowned Kenyans who bag the gold in almost all marathons.
As of 2009 infant mortality rate for Kenya is 54.7 deaths/1,000 live births, ranking among 44 worst countries in the world. According to Estimates generated by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) in 2013, Kenya's median infant mortality rate lies at 72.9. Among the leading causes of infant mortality are HIV, diarrhea and malnutrition.
Back to the marathon, let me not bore you with numbers. She is now officially the first 1st lady to complete a marathon for a good cause.
Skeptics might call it PR gimmick as some have started on social media but haters are always there. What are the critics doing to improve someone's life? All I can say is we need more of these initiatives if we are to realize the MDGs by next year. Kudos to mama.
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Photo courtesy of http://www.jambonewspot.com
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Although Mrs. Kenyatta had prepared well for the marathon, she is not an elite athlete as the renowned Kenyans who bag the gold in almost all marathons.
As of 2009 infant mortality rate for Kenya is 54.7 deaths/1,000 live births, ranking among 44 worst countries in the world. According to Estimates generated by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) in 2013, Kenya's median infant mortality rate lies at 72.9. Among the leading causes of infant mortality are HIV, diarrhea and malnutrition.
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| http://www.ulizalinks.co.ke1st-lady-margaret-kenyatta-receives-warm-reception-london/ |
Back to the marathon, let me not bore you with numbers. She is now officially the first 1st lady to complete a marathon for a good cause.
Skeptics might call it PR gimmick as some have started on social media but haters are always there. What are the critics doing to improve someone's life? All I can say is we need more of these initiatives if we are to realize the MDGs by next year. Kudos to mama.
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