The United Nations on Wednesday celebrated two Kenyans, Umar Omar and Isaac Otieno for their outstanding humanitarian work as the world marked the 11th World Humanitarian Day.
Omar, is the brains behind Lamu’s mobile doctor unit which has over the years been offering medical help to at least 17 villages in the county.
Omar says that she was woken by the sad reality that some people in rural areas could not access health services.
This brought her back to Kenya from the US in 2014 at a time when terror activities in the region by Al-Shabaab militants was in top gear. This did not discourage her at all.
Her first order of business was to revive a health centre that had been closed. She also got a nurse and motorbike for mobility around the villages.
Omar adds that she had to get Ksh50,000 every month to pay the nurse who would administer vaccines and medicine which was already available.
“I did that for a whole year,” she says.
She would later convert this project into Safari Doctors which has been a life saviour in Lamu. This was after two years.
Safari Doctors delivers medical aid by boat, air and land to Lamu’s minority communities; Bajuni and Aweer.
Her efforts in 2016 won her the “hero” status by CNN.
She holds that “I think humanitarian work needs to stop being a by the way thing. It should be something that we are living as the norm.”
Otieno, on the other hand, works on South Sudan where he has been instrumental in the reviving education through special programmes tailored to offer psychological held and food to school-going children.
His story of humanitarian work in South Sudan dates back to 2015 when he first visited and was appalled. When he returned to Kenya, he founded an organization as part of his effort to help this nation develop its education programmes once again.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in a statement lauded the two Kenyans for their dedication and selflessness.
“Self-sacrifice of these real-life heroes represents the best of humanity as they respond to the Covid-19 crisis and the massive increase in humanitarian needs it has triggered,” part of the statement read.
