Sherman Shares - August 2012
Bringing Chiropractic Awareness to Kenya
June 16, 2012. Nairobi, Kenya. During a nationally televised interview, Sherman faculty member Dr. Charles Kenya, and Greenville, SC, chiropractor Dr. Lee Popwell explained chiropractic and answered questions live on air.
Viewers wanted to know more about chiropractic and how to get it. Dr. Kenya was also interviewed on national radio. Chiropractic has not been legalized in Kenya, though local chiropractors are working to have the profession recognized as primary physician care.
Drs. Kenya and Popwell were on a mission trip to Kenya to meet with local chiropractors to draft a document to present to the Kenyan government to legalize chiropractic. They also wanted to deliver chiropractic care to Dr. Kenya’s native country. A Greenville couple, Christy and Curt Doucette, went with them to help.
Dr. Charles Kenya, Dr. Chima Mango, Dr. Lee Popwell
at the Parklands Baptist Church grounds.
On the first day of the trip, several Sherman grads met with Drs. Kenya and Popwell: Dr. Caroline Getecha, Dr. Immaculate Wambalaba, Dr. Margaret Stower and Dr. Musimbi Ondeko; and Life grad, Dr. Chima Mango. They discussed the state of chiropractic in Kenya and how to get it recognized legally.
The group held an open clinic in Nairobi where many people were checked and adjusted, including several members of the Kenyan Parliament. The group hopes that not only the spines but attitudes and perceptions about chiropractic were adjusted.
Next on the agenda was a visit to the Heshima Children’s Home, a place for children with cerebral palsy. These children are sometimes abandoned by their parents, but the home also provides child care while mothers to learn skills by making crafts.
The word “heshima” means “dignity.” The crafts are sold under the brand of Dignity Designs. The home is run by Tracy and Eric Hagman from Ohio. Staff and children were checked and adjusted.
Mothers making Dignity Design Crafts at the Heshima Home
Then the Parklands Baptist Church opened its grounds for a clinic open to the public.
The next day, the group traveled west through the Rift Valley Province to Kitale in Western Province. An open clinic was set up in a building offered by a local businessman. So many people came that the doors had to be locked to limit the numbers. Water and seating were provided by the Lions Club, and patients watched a Christian video while they waited to be checked.
One child, a nine-year-old boy, had been injured with a friend pushed him into a ditch, twisting his neck. While his injury was severe, Dr. Kenya and Dr. Popwell were able to adjust him and help his mother find local health care. That evening, they stopped at a boarding school to offer care to the staff and students.
Mother and Chris with Drs. Kenya and Popwell
Before travelling back to Nairobi, the doctors visited the Vumilia Children’s Home and then the Masai Mara Game preserve.
Before leaving Kenya, Dr. Kenya and Dr. Popwell met again with the chiropractic group for a de-briefing session about the trip, which they plan to repeat annually. The local chiropractors discussed further changes to the document to be presented to the Kenyan government to legalize chiropractic care. Dr. Kenya was happy to be part of the efforts to bring chiropractic to the world.
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