Telling the ECSA Story

  Portrait of Agnes in front of one of the 10 latrines she built in her village. In Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province in Chikore village head Agnes Chikore, 63 is working to better the lives and health of her community. She has gone the extra mile to stop the spread of diseases, such as cholera, by making sure her village is open defecation free. Ward 27 has 42 villages, out of these, 41 villages are led by men with Agnes Chikore being the only female village head. The fearless village head, and mother of seven, tackled open defecation which was very common due to a lack of toilets, washing facilities, and sanitation knowledge. Building a latrine was never a priority among many and most could not afford the cement to build one. “Due to this our food and water were contaminated. During the mango season, we’d have close to 20 diarrhoeal cases every week. Now we rarely have any . Our children were openly defecating near the houses and we would simply get a stick and scrape it away. We wo

Joan, Jikaze Wajane saving group, standing in front of her beauty shop/CARE International.   As of the end of April 2021 , 159.318 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Kenya and the national rate of positive COVID-19 cases stood at 9.7%. Kakamega and Bungoma, two counties in the western part of Kenya with the second largest rural population, managed to control COVID-19 better than other regions because of special support from the government for vulnerable rural communities. Especially movement restrictions helped to keep infections and COVID-related deaths at a lower level compared to other regions in the country. But people still suffer from all of the COVID-related restrictions. Many people lose their jobs and deal with trauma often because of COVID-related stigmatization.   Joan Naisimiu lives in Bungoma county in Kenya – an area close to the border of Uganda. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24-year-old mother of two lost her job. “I am worried about how I will be able to fee