Welcome to TICAH@20!

In August 2023, TICAH turned 20 years old! 

In 2003, TICAH was founded by Mary Ann Burris and trustees Onesmos Ole Moi Yoi, Kimani Njogu and Nicola Blundell-Brown. From the very beginning, our vision was to promote a deeper understanding of the connections between health and culture and to use that understanding to help ourselves and the communities we work with to make the best choices possible for health and well-being.

Honouring our history and our community is important to us. For our anniversary, we want to reflect on and share the learnings we have jointly gathered with our communities over the past two decades. And we want to build on these learnings to go deeper. To jointly remove barriers to health and well-being. To foster alliances and fight for our rights across disciplines. 

Over the past 20 years, we have...
🌟 reached over 126,577 people with knowledge on fundamental rights and holistic health.
🌟 increased access to services related to fundamental rights and holistic health for over 20,000 people.
🌟 launched many fun and educational publications, including our Annual Calendar, our Herbal and Nutrition Guide for Kenyan Families, "Nine Lives: Treatment Stories of Positive People", "We’re Talking About Sex – Tunazungumza Kuhusu Ngono" and many more!
 

We're excited to officially reveal our TICAH@20 logo and welcome you to the first anniversary newsletter feature! Every month, we will be highlighting a special feature for our 20th anniversary. This month, we are starting off with 20 Questions with our Executive Director, Jade Maina. Read more here. 

Art with Heart: ESCAPE The Residency

"I find myself humming “hii ni story ya Jamo” long after rehearsal has ended. It’s a catchy, standout lyric of the soundtrack for ESCAPE: The Musical. This week, I have had the pleasure of supporting a diverse group of artists as they workshop writer Sitawa Namwalie’s play about a young man—Jamo—who escapes prison and is hiding underneath the bed of the warden." 

In August, TICAH's Art with Heart program organized a week-long Rika ("peer") residency supporting ESCAPE: The Musical. In our latest blog, our fellow Anastasia Onyango reflects on the process and learnings from the residency.

Healthy Households: Exchange Visit to Gardens for Health in Rwanda

We are excited to share the enriching experience of our recent peer learning visit to Gardens for Health International (GHI) in Rwanda, where we explored new horizons on building agency and co-creating activities with individuals, households, and communities to make healthy choices when it comes to, ending malnutrition in children and pregnant women. The visit brought us new perspectives and insights in effective programming, strategic advocacy, and impactful scaling efforts in nutrition and regenerative agriculture.

Our team's collaboration with GHI has led to exciting conversations about developing nutritional information, simplifying our strategies, and promoting inclusion. We are motivated to incorporate these invaluable lessons into our approach, forging a path towards even greater impact. 

Healthy Households: Training Teachers to Enhance Child Development and Nutrition 

Did you know that we support child development and nutrition for children below the age of 8 years? With our Healthy Households program, we aim to end malnutrition through increasing intake and awareness of adequate, locally available and affordable nutritious meals.

In August, we met with teachers from 6 early childhood development (ECD) centers in Nairobi to review the progress of the school child nutrition and kitchen garden project. Together, we shared our successes, learnings, and challenges and developed a sustainability plan that will inform our next phase of implementation.  

Indigenous Knowledge & Culture: Partnering with Provisions Kenya  

If you’ve ever come across our guide “Using our Traditions: A Herbal and Nutritional Guide for Kenyan Families”, you know that we’re always excited about sharing knowledge on herbal remedies. This past month, we started a new partnership with Provisions Kenya as a new space where we can engage with people interested in herbal medicine and traditional practices. 

On a bright Saturday morning in August, we got together with a group of fifteen participants and our herbalist to learn how to make chili ointment and traditional cough syrup. We enjoyed exchanging ideas, and our highlight included reconnecting with our founding trustees, Onesmus Ole Moi Yoi and his wife Linda Ole Moi Yoi.  

Are you in Nairobi and interested in joining us for a future workshop? Follow our social media to stay updated! 

… our OBOC Community Outreach Manager Wangari Ireri was featured on Mumo TV, discussing  sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

… our herbalist Martin was featured on BBC News Swahili, discussing traditional medicine and natural remedies (See minutes 14:25-19:08). 

… we conducted a journalist training on progressive reporting on sexual and reproductive health and rights with KELIN. 

… we hosted our monthly Drum Circle at Hilton Square Park in Nairobi CBD.