Raelyn Nicholson: Restoring health in MOHI schools and communities

“We are celebrating the opportunity to fling the gates of MOHI schools wide open!” reports CMF team member Raelyn Nicholson, who serves with Missions of Hope International in Nairobi, Kenya.

“The majority of our students were out of school for nearly nine months,” said Raelyn, who serves as the MOHI Health Quality Assurance and Liaison Coordinator. “Our Health and Education leaders worked hard with the head teachers and Community Health Evangelism trainers to meet the Ministry of Education requirements for reopening on Jan. 4, 2021.

“As a result, we developed protocols, expanded the hand hygiene infrastructure, created educational posters, procured masks for every student and trained all staff on COVID-19 prevention,” she added.

The MOHI Health Team also made it a priority to set goals to restore health in the team members, the schools and the communities.

“We will be equipping our team with skills that will make them more resilient, energized and effective in the field,” said Raelyn. “In the schools, we will emphasize handwashing with soap, and hope to observe 90 percent of the students washing their hands at critical times by the end of the year. We’ll also focus on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and will train and certify an MHM champion at every center to educate and empower our female students.”

The team will also prioritize spiritual health in the communities.

“We want to see believers of Jesus become followers of Jesus,” said Raelyn. “So, we plan to start 20 disciple-making groups in the new year and enroll 250 households in the ‘Healthy Home’ program. This program works with families to holistically transform them in mind, body, spirit and pocket.”

Raelyn has been in the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic but is scheduled to return to Kenya today, Jan. 19.

“I’m happy to say that 2021 is looking pretty good,” she said. “I’m eager to get my feet back on the ground after many months of working from California!”