By Lesley C.

A friend will ask, how are you? Often we reply, am OK. But inside we’re not fine at all. We are all created as beautiful vessels. But sometimes the vessels break. We break, emotional, spiritually or physically. Others can be mended, others take long and others suffer silently alone without being mended.

A woman is a beautiful vessel, made by God. We are strong vessels but life can be so hard and leaves us broken. Though broken a woman can smile and takes care of her baby and family, carrying the wound and scar for years. I thank God that this scar wasn’t on our face, coz all women could be ugly, and we carry this scar for our families, our clan, our community, and our country. Without this scar there are no people, no presidents, no CEO’s, no Doc’s, no life on earth, this is the scar of ‘life’, scar of pride, scar of honor.

Today we come out to honor our scars, to heal our scars and to tell the world we are still the most beautiful and strongest vessels made.

We thank our Almighty Potter, who is mending our hearts and our scars through the gifted hands of our surgeon’s through the Flying Doctors Society, Created by our own children brought into this world by the scar.

Fistula doesn’t choose the vessel to destroy, whether you are poor, or rich, educated or not. It’s like any other disease but carried by shame and stigma.

Let’s lift our pride high women. This is a Scar of pride and Honor. We were beautifully and wonderfully made. Let’s shine and dance with Pride & Honor.

We call upon our children, our husbands, brothers & sisters. Don’t abandon us as we struggle to bring forth humanity.

GOD BLESS US. WE ARE PHENOMENAL WOMEN, GOD’S OWN CREATION

This Festive season, we are offering a special discount to all our members and clients. If you purchase any new annual or short stay membership between the 1^st and 31^st of December 2012, we are offering you a 10% discount on the subscription!

You cannot afford to be without Flying Doctors cover this festive season. No matter where you travel to, whether to visit your relatives up country, or going on holiday with family and friends, you need this cover. Many who live in East Africa wonder if they will ever need to be airlifted. The truth is, you never know when you will need the service, and for a cost starting at KShs. 1,500, you can avoid the hassle of trying to raise over KShs. 500,000 on short notice for an evacuation expense.

Get your membership today!

Planning an African safari is not an easy thing (at least not for me) and so, one might find themselves between a rock and a hard place especially if it involves two or more countries. For instance, let’s say you want to do a safari that involves visiting destinations that are located in two different countries say Kenya and Tanzania-am using these two countries as an example since they are the ones I have managed to tour in a single safari. Well, why not look for safari tours that visit both Kenya and Tanzania? This way, you will be able to kill many birds with a single stone! Plus, you are sure to find not only an ideal safari, but also that which will not exert too much weight on your wallet.

There are so many things one can enjoy while exploring Kenya and Tanzania. Usually, rather in my case, the safari departed Nairobi and the first stop was at the Masai Mara National reserve, commonly known to the locals as “The Mara”. In all honesty, I was amazed by this particular place-never knew it was such an intriguing place to be at. Just a sneak peek, Masai Mara is a large game reserve in South-Western Kenya which is marked by circles of trees, cloud shadows, savannas and scrubs. Here is where you will get a chance to witness the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle which normally takes place between the months of July and October. I put it to you that this particular place is worth visiting, so why not mark it in your calendar and give it a try!

The next destination after Masai Mara was Lake Nakuru National Park then Amboseli National Park and finally Tanzania. The places I would recommend you visit in Tanzania are: Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro crater which is full of wildlife. Did I mention that I had a bird’s eye-view of Mount Kilimanjaro’s snowy peaks? Oh yes I did, and it was spectacular! Guess if am to visit Tanzania again, then Mount Kilimanjaro would be my first destination.

Finally, we all need travel covers…just to be on the safe side while doing our travels. Flying Doctors Society of Africa provides you with this. Please click here to see the various membership packages.

We have travel cover plans that meet the specific needs of travelers within East Africa. The four membership package groups we have are:
• Annual (East Africa) – which covers the whole of East Africa and this includes Rwanda and Burundi for twelve months
• Short stay (East Africa) – which covers the whole of East Africa including Rwanda and Burundi for up to to months
• Short stay (Kenya and Northern Tanzania) – this covers a radius of 500KM from Nairobi for up to two months
• Annual (Kenya and Northern Tanzania) – this covers a radius of 500KM from Nairobi for twelve months

We are not biased and so membership to the Flying Doctors Society is open to every individual regardless, especially those traveling and living within East Africa. It doesn’t matter what reason there is behind your travels, because FDSA will always be at your rescue whenever you need them. You could be on a business trip, leisure or on safari just to mention a few.

As much as no one is comfortable with the idea of them falling sick or getting involved in some kind of accident while traveling, still this is something each one of us should plan for, and this is for our own sake and that of our loved ones as well. Therefore, a travel cover is something worth considering as you never know what might happen to you while doing your travels.

The VVF patient turnout was huge with 400 women being screened and 102 repaired. KNH’s fully designated Clinic 66 for VVF screening and surgery on routine bases and the theater rooms renovated by AMREF are now operational. 45 medical staff were trained including 15 doctors and 20 nurses from both KNH and the rural district hospitals.

Hon Linah Chebii, Assistant Minister for Cooperative Development graced the occasion and pledged to lobby the government to play a bigger role in fistula treatment and prevention.

Visit our Google Plus page to see more photos from the VVF Walk.