Milker Simba, CMMB m2m Programme Manager in Kenya relays her account of the recent Kenyan general elections, and the impact they had on starting up m2m in Kenya.

"The December 2007 general elections my country shall forever remain embedded in my memory. It was a time of crisis for Kenya and it was the time my mothers2mothers colleagues and I attempted to launch our new program in Nairobi, our capital.

There was a lot of excitement during the campaigns and come the 27th of December, the Election Day, all seemed to go well with only minor hitches reported in various polling stations. But after the Election Day, when the results were not announced, there were many rumors spreading through the SMS amid tension among people.

Come the 30th of December 2007 the incumbent was declared the winner, this did not go well with many people who believed that the elections had been rigged. Immediately after the announcement all chaos broke loose. Shops were closed and all public transport stopped operating since demonstrating youths had barricaded most major highways. Soon they were burning cars on sight and burning down commercial buildings. My husband was stranded many miles away in Western Kenya and we could not communicate because there was no airtime being sold anywhere so no mobile communication. My husband survived on a meal of black tea and groundnuts once a day as he could not risk running out of the little food he had. I was lucky, I had little food reserves in the house and my children and I also ate only one meal a day. After some days, though, my husband was able to return to Nairobi and we were reunited.

The mothers2mothers first sites were planned to launch on 7th of January 2008. By this date some parts of the capital could be accessed, but in talking with my m2m colleagues at the Head Office we delayed the launch so as to be very careful even though the hospitals of the sites stayed open. It was difficult to phone our new Mentor Mothers and Site Coordinators but when I did, I was very worried to hear the house of one of them, her name is Dolorex, had been burned down by youths. She was not hurt though, but very upset.

All the Mentors and Coordinators wanted the Sites to launch and by 21st of January 2008 when Nairobi was much more peaceful we launched. But we said very clearly to the staff that if ever there was any skirmishes at all they must not come to work and they would be paid anyway. But one day at Kikuyu Hospital, Everlyne and Lois were both working when they heard that rowdy boys were heading to the hospital area for trouble. The youths were of the same tribe as Lois, but of a different tribe to Everlyne who was frightened and worried. Lois stayed with Everlyne at the hospital until evening and then she was able to sneak Everlyne out through short cuts and so she was fine. In total, none of the staff were hurt in anyway.

Nowadays, Kenya has become more peaceful and we hope there is political agreement, and now also our sites have all become strong and the Mentor Mothers are happy to be focused on their work."

m2m works in partnership with the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) to implement m2m services in Kenya, as part of the PEPFAR New Partners Initiative (NPI).