KidsTalk Foundation

KidsTalk Foundation was founded in 1996 through the vision of Ninon de Vere De Rosa, CEO & Founder. Her vision, and the mission of KidsTalk Foundation, is to give the younger generation a voice in society and to prepare them for their life journey as future leaders in the United States and throughout the world. To accomplish this mission, KidsTalk Foundation executes a variety of programs: the Future Leaders Program – an approach to developing the leadership potential of youth through various education- and health-oriented projects; Voices of Tomorrow – an award-winning, educational television series; and A Second Chance – an educational summit for youth incarcerated in the Los Angeles Juvenile Hall System.

The Future Leaders Program provides health care services to AIDS orphans in Kenya. This KidsTalk Foundation program was initiated in 2005 under the leadership of Kathleen Tucker, in San Diego, California, USA, and in three locations within Kenya, East Africa: Kakamega, Bunyore, and Nambale. The underlying premise of this program is that young people become leaders through education, and education is effective only when the child (student) is healthy. Thus, the various health services programs provided by KidsTalk Foundation create the basis for the successful execution of the ongoing education initiatives.

Future Leaders Program: Health and Education Initiatives

Background: In 2001, Alice Atemo Mwaro Muhindi, a Kenyan woman, founded three local schools for orphans and extremely destitute children. The AIDS pandemic has left millions of children orphaned and without the means to attend school. Alice responded to this need by establishing schools for orphans in Kakamega, Bunyore, and Nambale. The Kakamega school is 5 miles from the nearest hospital. Sick or injured children must be carried on foot (which can take up to 2 hours) or be taken by bicycle. While planning for an upcoming business trip to Kenya in 2004, Kathleen heard about the challenges faced in getting the Kakamega school children prompt medical attention. With the help of her friends and colleagues, she raised $20,000 in 10 weeks to purchase a bus for the school, while on her business trip to Kenya.

The primary purpose for the school bus was to provide transportation for sick or injured children from the Kakamega school to the hospital. Kathleen traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, to purchase and deliver a school bus to a school for orphans in Kakamega, Kenya. During the 2004 trip and her first visit to the Kakamega school, Kathleen learned that, on average, one child a month from these schools was dying of malaria or typhoid. Kathleen found this information unacceptable, and therefore when she returned to the U.S., she and Ninon put together a plan to implement the Future Leaders Program in Kenya.

Accomplishments:

Physical exams and vaccinations Beginning in August 2005, Kathleen and Alice have organized multiple KidsTalk medical camps utilizing doctors from the Kenyan Ministry of Health to vaccinate all students at the three schools against typhoid, and to provide every child with a physical examination.

Permanent Medical Clinic In September 2005, KidsTalk Foundation established a permanent Medical Clinic at the Kakamega school that is still in operation today. The Medical Clinic is staffed locally with a Medical Officer ⁄ Clinical Director, nurse, and nurse’s aides. The success of the Medical Clinic can be measured by the number of children treated and the number of deaths averted. Since the inception of the typhoid vaccination program and opening of the Medical Clinic not one child has died of a treatable disease. This is a powerful statistic considering that prior to the implementation of these programs, on average, a child died every month.

In February 2009, Dr. Pam Harvey from the U.S. participated in a series of KidsTalk medical camps in Kakamega and Bunyore. She worked directly with a leading Kenyan pediatrician and local medical team to identify children at the school with extreme medical needs. Together, she and the Kenyan medical team performed examinations and moderate procedures on children with immediate, critical needs. They also identified 2 children as candidates to receive potentially life-saving heart surgery in the U.S.

 

Ongoing Needs:

Medical Clinic. The effectiveness of the Medical Clinic is dependent upon the availability of quality medicine. With almost a 1,000 students attending the 3 schools, there is a great need for a variety of medicine to meet their daily needs. There is also a need for vitamins.

Vaccination program. The value of the typhoid vaccination program is indisputable. However, we are in need of vaccines or monetary donations to purchase the vaccines. Our goal is to vaccinate 100 children per month in order to keep every child’s vaccination current.

Disease Prevention - Shoes. The children wear whatever shoes they are given; however, many do not have shoes at all. Worms and other parasites enter through the feet. Shoes cost about $20 per child. We would like to provide a new pair of shoes to each child every 6 months.

Disease Prevention – Toilet facilities. Maintaining sanitary toilet facilities requires the construction of new facilities on a regular basis. We are interested in ideas for constructing more sanitary toilets and are looking for ways to reduce the transmission of diseases via these facilities. As, mentioned above, shoes can help reduce the transmission of diseases.

Malaria Prevention – Mosquito nets. In August 2006, each child was given a mosquito net. Nets will need to be replaced on an ongoing basis as they become damaged. The program is in need of assistance with net replacement and access to malaria-preventing medicine for children.

KidsTalk Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) , and KidsTalk is a Kenya NGO (community based, non-governmental organization)

• Ninon de Vere De Rosa, CEO & Founder
• Ninon@KidsTalk.org
• Phone: 323.850.1303
• Kathleen Tucker, President
• Kathleen@KidsTalk.org
• Phone: 858.442.6601
• www.KidsTalk.org