One of Walking with Maasai’s aims is to relieve the burden of preventable disease. As an area gripped by poverty, Olorte sees more than its fair share of suffering and death.

Olorte healthcare

Walking with Maasai’s first healthcare project was to open a clinic in Olorte in June 2006. The clinic was managed by Walking with Maasai and overseen by a local Maasai community committee. This clinic was a huge success and provided much needed medical care to this remote corner of Maasai land.

Mobile clinic

In its latest initiative, Starfish Clinic Project International is working in partnership with Walking with Maasai to establish a mobile clinic that will serve a number of key villages in the Olorte area. The terrain in the area is very rough, particularly in the eastern parts near the edge of the Great Rift Valley and the only way access them is using a 4×4 vehicle. The clinic will operate from a Land Rover ambulance conversion to deliver effective general healthcare and HIV/AIDS treatment to those least able to travel to the central clinic up to a day’s walk away. In addition to treatment, the service will provide healthcare education and counselling, particularly in HIV/AIDS prevention. The clinic will be run by Florence Simpano, a local nurse employed by Walking with Maasai and funded by Starfish Clinic Project International.

The Land Rover ambulance conversion is now complete and in transit to Kenya.  It is expected to be operational by September 2009.  Planning is underway to build a depot for the clinic to store medical supplies and healthcare records.