UD staff member organizes health screening in Kenya

Ken Anunda: “It is an African tradition that you stay connected and help not only your immediate family but your extended family.”

11:28 a.m., Feb. 16, 2006--When his father died of prostate cancer, Ken Anunda retuned to Kenya for his father's funeral and vowed to do something special to honor his father's memory that would help others suffering from disease. “It is an African tradition,” he said, “that you stay connected and help not only your immediate family but your extended family.”

Anunda, a CITA I in UD's College of Health Sciences, organized the Charles Anunda Memorial Health Drive held Feb. 4 in the district of Kisii, working through local officials and through the Delaware Kenya Association (DELKA), which helped fund the initiative.

“Because of tradition, Africans are reluctant to talk about health symptoms they may be having, and the purpose of the health drive was to educate people in the region and to get them to be more forthcoming about physical problems. They also are concerned about treatments, which can be invasive,” Anunda said.

A team of seven men and women physicians visited the Chief's Camp at Bobaracho, Kisii, and their focus was on screening for prostate cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and HIV/AIDS.

Although not present, Anunda kept in touch by phone and was informed about the health drive and what was taking place. “Approximately 1,000 people attended,” he said. “When people learned about the various illnesses, some came forward and said they had experienced some of the symptoms, including five with possible prostate cancer, eight with possible breast cancer and 25 with possible HIV/AIDS. They were examined and referred to the district headquarters and hospital.”

“I think my father would be alive today, if he had told us the symptoms he was experiencing, so I am encouraging others to speak up and seek help for health problems,” Anunda said, adding, “The participants also learned about the importance of healthy living in general.”

A graduate of SUNY in Albany, Anunda joined the UD staff in 2002. He is a founding member of DELKA, a fully registered nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Kenyans at home and in Delaware.

“One of our goals is to help provide clean drinking water in our villages and towns. Another is to encourage technology. We are sending used computers to a high school in Kenya. They may be out of date here, but they are a treasure for students in Kenya,” he said.

“We also have been involved in raising funds for HIV/AIDS orphans in Kenya through Dining for a Cause, [which] was held in the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, and by participating in an HIV/AIDS walk,” Anunda said.

“We help Kenyans here, as well. When a student from Kenya died, we raised the money to send her home for burial,” Anunda said.

DELKA helps people from Kenya in Delaware to network with each other. “We are first-generation immigrants and have strong ties to Kenya and to each other,” Anunda said.

For more information about DELKA, visit [www.delka.org] or e-mail DELKA at [info@delka.org].

Article by Sue Moncure
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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