Crossing N
Lutheran health program brings together women from Kenya, Uganda and Chile
elly Koyo was standing in the middle of her chicken house in Kisumu County, Kenya, when
she learned she was about to travel to Chile. Joyce Amoyi didn’t believe she would travel outside of Kenya to such a faraway place until she was sitting in an airplane for the first time. Lisper Bundi, a Nairobi social worker, had never heard of Chile and doubted she would learn anything in such a small strip of a country. Fast forward to two weeks later
when Bundi said: “We have learned so much.” Amoyi agreed, saying: “I look at
things differently now.” For her part, Koyo was “ready
to put in practice what we have learned.” What changed their perspec- tives? Tey were part of a delegation of Kenyan and Ugandan women who attended “Popu- lar
By Maxine Lowy
Education in Health: Dignity, Empowerment, Equity-Participatory and Community-Based Strategies for Health.” Te two-week training course was run by Fundacion EPES (Educacion Popular en Salud, Popu- lar Education in Health Foundation) in January in Santiago, Chile. Founded in 1982, EPES began as
a health-training project of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church in Chile. Since 2010, thanks to ELCA
World Hunger support, nearly 90 people from 14 countries have attended EPES’ annual course, gain- ing skills to run participatory preven- tive health programs. Te 2014 course was coordi-
nated with the Hope Foundation for African Women (www.hopefaw. org), a Nairobi-based nonprofit that empowers Maasai and Kisii women to bring positive change to their communities. ELCA missionary Karen Ander-
son, who directs the EPES Interna- tional Training Program, said it was “probably the first time a Chilean and a Kenyan organization have worked so closely together to share strategies to empower women. Te experience has been transformative for all of us.” HFAW director Grace Mose was a student in EPES’ first international
Participant Hellen Njoroge (right) shares a hug with Bárbara (no last name given), the granddaughter of a health promoter from Conceptión, Chile.
COURTESY OF EPES May 2014 39
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