Using the arts to spread health, peace and community wellbeing in rural Kenya

Abstract

This article tells the empirical story of women from seven villages of Kwale, the most southeastern county in the Coast Province of Kenya that borders with Tanzania –Lunga Lunga, Godo, Perani, Umoja, Maasailand, Mpakani and Jirani– as they searched for community health, equity, gender equality and peace on their own terms. This article shows that creative health initiatives can be successfully used as mechanisms for peace building. Since 2010, the Nikumbuke-Health by All Means (N-HbAM) projects from the University of Madison-Wisconsin in the United States, have trained 57 health promoters and 32 female actors on disease prevention and health promotion that have outreached approximately 120,000 inhabitants around the county enhancing unity in diversity, and breaking down the walls of ethnic hostilities and prejudice. Because of its low cost and high effectivity, the United Nations awarded N-HbAM2 the 2013 Public Service Award as a model of best practice in gender, community development and sustainable wellbeing.