Day 3: Field visit to Masai villages in Kajiado, sub-county

Day three of the event started by visit to AFYA House, Ministry of health, Kenya.  Then CLTS Foundation in collaboration with the Government of Kenya, organised a field visit to Itinkya village. Particiapnts were also taken to the County Commisioner’s office in Kajiado.

It gave participants an opportunity to observe the first-hand situation of a Masai community which had become ODF in the early stages of the Government of Kenya CLTS-driven ODF Rural Kenya Campaign. Expertly facilitated by Ibrahim Basweti Nyasani, Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Government of Kenya; Eric Machuki, Kajiado County Public Health Officer and Patrick Mainka of AMREF, the visit provided rare insights into the ODF process for a very dispersed rural community.

The Masai in this area, once fully nomadic pastoralists, are now semi-settled but still depend on roaming livestock for their livelihood. Some of the strategies for achieving institutional coordination between different stakeholders to work in a systematic way with the 680 communities in the County, of which now 70 are ODF, were illuminated by the textures of face to face exchange in a cheerful and celebratory interaction.