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Editor's Note: The following is a blog posted by the Grassroots Manager at EGM Films. EGM (www.egmfilms.org) tells true stories from around the world, capturing local responses to human problems to encourage solution-oriented thinking. Earlier this summer, EGM screened its HIV awareness film, "Miss HIV", at a free health clinic in Kenya. Watch the trailer to your right.
Tues July 14 - A few times a year, MCF opens its children’s clinic and gives free medical care to the surrounding community. People will walk as far as 10-15 miles just to seek basic health care for themselves and their children. About 300-500 people will come, each day, to see a doctor or a dentist and each are seen (and treated) for free - with meals and water provided by MCF. For many, that meal or glass of water is their only one for the day.
Some who help out at the clinic are volunteers, like Katlin Brown from Toronto, Canada, who comes once a year to help clean (and pull) teeth. Yesterday she pulled 130 teeth, a few of them in such poor states that they warrant showing them to the dental community at large as new specimens.
The other doctors and nurse practitioners are Kenyan and are paid a stipend by MCF. This is an important detail, as it does a number of amazing things; 1.) Creates work for Kenyan doctors, which allows them to stay within and serve their community, 2.) Breaks down some of the language barriers, no small feat as there are 27 different dialects in this 50 mile radius alone 3.) Promotes a sense of familiarity and community, which is important for someone who may be very sick and scared.
And this is where we screened our film, Miss HIV, for the first time in Kenya.
