When non-governmental organizations, community leaders and government medical professionals in Nairobi organized free medical outreach camps for refugees, people responded in huge numbers. Counselors and physiotherapists on the CVT Nairobi team participated in two of these camps, serving hundreds of refugees in the city who showed up seeking care for past trauma, pain and daily challenges in their lives.

The outreach camps were led by Refuge Point, a refugee support organization with offices in Nairobi and Boston, in collaboration with the Kenya Ministry of Health and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Many additional partner agencies participated, working together to provide comprehensive and holistic services to refugee communities over the course of a day.

The outreach camps were free to the refugee community, with the first held in April and another in early August. This more recent camp was held in the Eastleigh neighborhood in Nairobi, where a very large population of refugees from Somalia lives. Turnout exceeded expectations, with more than 1,400 people attending.

Michael Kamau, psychotherapist/trainer with CVT Nairobi, worked on the planning committee for the camps, an initiative that grew out of standing monthly meetings of partner health organizations. Jeniffer Chepkemoi, physiotherapist supervisor, and Mary Goretti, counselor and CVT intern, also attended along with partners, NGOs, county agencies, as well as doctors, technicians, emergency medical professionals and many more.

The camp was held in a primary school, Jeniffer noted, and its many classrooms were put to good use for the large crowd. “Many services were offered,” Jeniffer said. “It was like a hospital, all in one place.” She noted that outside the building, the agencies held screenings for the people who showed up, with a crowd largely consisting of refugees from Somalia and some from the Great Lakes area.

It was like a hospital, all in one place.”

-Jeniffer Chepkemoi, physiotherapist supervisor

The intake process was very smooth. As people showed up, they were screened and given a numbered card to serve as an identity card for the day. They each had their vitals checked, and then a doctor determined their primary concern and sent them to the right place: medical or medication referrals, counseling, physiotherapy and other care referrals. “If people had pain or problems with movement, they were sent to us in the physiotherapy area,” Jeniffer said. “We did assessments for everyone, and we did those very quickly. The numbers were huge.”

It was a highly visible event in the neighborhood, gaining attention quickly with ambulances parked out front and large groups of people gathered for screenings. Jeniffer said that as closing time of 3 pm drew near, people were still arriving for care.

And many of the people who came had serious concerns with which they had been living. “One woman came to us with back pain,” Jeniffer said. “She lived in a neighborhood that is not close to our CVT clinics, but we could see she needed urgent and ongoing help, so we referred her to another organization.” The CVT team shared information with her about health as well as mental health, which the client found very helpful.

Jeniffer noted that CVT’s standard physiotherapy group sessions were not designed for this kind of single-day event.  “However, we did gather groups of five or six women together and discussed the symptoms many of them were having,” Jeniffer said. “We did breathing and relaxation exercises, stretches and education.”

For come clients, CVT provided individual physiotherapy for pain relief, along with education. There were many children with disabilities in attendance, and the team showed them how to do daily exercises and use supportive techniques.

Mary Goretty participated in both camps, and found that almost all of her clients were women, most of them mothers. “I saw women going through lots of psychological distress,” she said. “So many of them had concerns only for their children, though. Some didn’t understand why they were having psychological symptoms.”

I loved what I was doing.”

-Mary Goretti, counselor and CVT intern

Mary said many women had been through very difficult situations in the past: Some lost loved ones in the war. Many were raising their children alone. “One woman said to me, ‘I forget a lot of things,’ and another said ‘I just starting talking to myself when I’m out walking.’ They didn’t understand why this was happening,” Mary said.

Mary did psychoeducation to explain that these symptoms were caused by stress and psychological factors. “I shared information with them about trauma,” she said. “We explored ways to help them calm down when they are experiencing symptoms like forgetting, anxiety and stress.”

“I loved what I was doing,” Mary said.

Jeniffer also noticed the need for care particularly for mothers who came to the camps with children with disabilities. The National Council for Persons with Disabilities was present, assisting with the registration of individuals with disabilities and offering guidance on how to access free medical services at various government health facilities. Physiotherapists from Nairobi County government hospitals were also part of the team, and CVT referred several individuals to them for continued immediate interventions following the medical outreach.

“We saw a need to help mothers,” Jeniffer said. “Some were sick or had pain all over. Yet they were also taking care of a child with cerebral palsy or other disabilities. The mothers did not see themselves.

They only saw their children. So we let them know there is help for them, too.”

-Jeniffer Chepkemoi

Mary agreed. “These mothers never thought of themselves – they only thought of their children,” she said. Clients appreciated hearing that it was important that to think of their own mental health. “I told one woman: ‘Take care of yourself first.’ She was so happy,” Mary said. “She understood that this would help her take care of her children.”

The connection between mental health and physiotherapy that is a key component of CVT’s care in Kenya was evident in the camps as well. One client had a lot of anxiety. She said she had pain all over, but the waiting time to see a doctor was long, so they referred her to Jeniffer in physiotherapy. “But I could see she needed counseling,” Jeniffer said, so she sent her to Mary.

“She came back calm, telling me she was feeling much better,” Jeniffer said. “She said she had thought she was a crazy person; she didn’t think she was able to exercise.” But the woman did some physiotherapy and stretches and even made new connections. “She was able to work with other women and talk with them,” Jeniffer said.

Another woman had paralysis and was not able to speak. For this case, Jeniffer did some massage on her neck, helping to ease the tension. The woman was so happy with this care, “She took my hand and gave it a kiss,” Jeniffer said.

Michael said that another outreach camp is not planned at this time, as the organizers need to find donor support for an event of this size and scope. The results were truly remarkable though, so the team is hopeful that the next camp will be coming soon.