Let's talk about Burumba Dispensary

I have been AWOL for sometime, but don't hold it against me please, there have been matters of uttermost emergency that needed my attention.

How are you this weekend?

Hope all is well with you, and that you have been waiting to hear from me by constantly refreshing your inbox to see if anything pops up from "Jodie," :-)

So, here's the thing- I managed to visit Busia for a day or so- and came across this marvelous landmark called "Burumba Dispensary."


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So, I got on a motorbike from Busia town- just near the County Commissioner's office and paid the man fifty shilling to take me to the Burumba dispensary where I was to meet certain professionals.

So, when I arrived- I hesitated to pay the man.

I asked him, "are you sure this is the dispensary?"

He said, "yes."

"I asked, "how come there's no one and why does it look like snakes and not people live here?"

He smirked and stretched out his hand for his money and then said, "hiyo ni mambo ya serikali."

He sped off leaving me and a couple of other people shocked and surprised at how an abandoned building could be called a 'dispensary' and to make matters worse- all the latrine doors were bolted with a piece of wood nailed right across all three doors, and the sewer tanks had this two great openings that anyone could sink into if they were not cautious enough.

So, when I saw this my first instinct was to take lots of pictures.

I did so.

My second instinct was to ask who the area ward was.

I was told he's called - Opondo Tony Onyango. and I tried to look him up on social media but let's just say that there's so much info on a certain Daniel Tony Onyango who happens to be a rugby player and not a politician, but there's proof of what I was told since Tony does appear on the Busia County devolution list as the Ward representative of Burumba (read it here)

I have been engaged in sanitation programs for over a year now, and it saddens me to see such a sorry state of a health facility and to make matters worse, it looks as though funds were misused and that meant the project was abandoned even before it took root.

Burumba dispensary is situated near Maoko, in Busia and it is at the center of a village named Burumba D which has more than three thousand households- now imagine there was at least one person in each household who needed medical assistance- that means that the facility would be providing health services to three thousand people- that's three thousand lives! So, to have over grown grass, broken glass windows, bat infested ceilings, leaking roofs and most of all a locked gate and a bold branded project funder "FUNDED BY CDF" and not be up and running is a shame and the greatest attestation to not only corruption but a lack of concern for the welfare of the people who you'll expect to vote for you in the next election.

Each county faces it's challenges, but health is a universal concern.

There is no two ways about provision of education on good health practices and access to efficient health facilities.

I would however hope that the CDF committee that started this project- see it it through to completion. If the funds are misused, then better find a way of correcting that (do not take more from the citizens, but rather withdraw from the selfish people who ate it up and complete this building).

In the time being, allow the residents of that area to clear up up- cut the grass and clean the bat poop and broken glass and seal those sewer holes.

Also, let them use one room especially the last one that's not bat infested as a day care center and help generate funds to help in renovating the dispensary.

It's not a chore, but involve them wholly to guarantee first- accountability and also ownership!

Do not let anyone define you.