by Joyce J. Wangui
-Kenya-

Biopsy, mammogram, and chemotherapy are words all too familiar with cancer patients. Death is another word often at the tip of many tongues as patients describe the disease. Kenyans are coming to terms with cancer, hitherto perceived as a disease of the West and the rich.

Grim statistics show that over 60 Kenyans die of cancer and its related complications every day. In fact, cancer is Kenya’s third leading cause of death, killing more people than HIV and Malaria combined.

by Joyce J. Wangui
-Kenya-

As the quest for working abroad heightens for many skilled and semi-skilled Kenyans, only a handful understand the implications of working in countries where labor laws are ignored. Media reports of brutality toward foreign laborers in Saudi Arabia have done little to deter determined Kenyans from seeking greener pastures. But has the search for a better life become modern-day slavery?

by Joyce J. Wangui
- Kenya -

Young Kamau carries a heavy bucket of water on his head. Clad in tattered clothes that barely conceal his ill-nourished body, the young boy is aware that the cameras are focused not on the water he is carrying, but at the sores on his feet. Kamau can barely walk as most of his toes have been eaten up by jiggers. What is left of the flesh is a mere fragile skin covered with pus and dead cells. The boy is conscious of our shock as we realize that the whole village of Kiangage is infested with the deadly bug.