MOSES OKOMBO lives 2 hours west of Kericho, but that hasn't stopped him from shaping (and being shaped by) the Cluster. Find out why here...
Tell us about your work. I’m a Community Health Worker, a Psychological Counsellor and a HIV tester in the city of Kisumu. I also help run Touching Lives, which I co-founded in 2012. We're a community-based organisation working to empower, improve and support communities in different ways. So I’m a change agent!
How did you get involved with the Cluster? It’s a funny story. I received a fraudulent email in 2007 indicating that Arukah Network (or CHGN as it was then) had a job vacancy. I looked up the real website and got in touch. There was no job, but I got chatting with Dr. Nick and Dr. Ted. Soon after, they came to Kericho – east of Kisumu – to discuss creating a Cluster with people there. I liked the idea of a platform to share experiences and learn from others. So it’s Kericho-based, but I got involved.
How does the Cluster help you? The introduction of SALT has been a big thing. With SALT, you can repair a broken egg! I use it in my work - and in every interaction in fact. It ignites, grows, fuels, maintains and spreads sustained change. It's from SALT that we gather stories; from stories we get insights; from insights we get change; and this change can then be transferred to others. I now blog about SALT - to help other practitioners.
Can you give us an example of how you use SALT? At Touching Lives we use it to help children with ill-discipline. We’ve held group sessions with children and parents where we introduce SALT's way of sharing and appreciating each other’s efforts and feelings. As a result we’ve heard how the children’s relationships with parents, friends and teachers have improved. And they perform better at school too. And actually the parent’s way of handling kids changed as well: less scalding, more dialogue.
What are your hopes for the future of the Cluster? We want to help create Clusters in other places in Kenya. For example, some members visited Pokot last year. A small beginning, through persistence, will always yield fruit. But we must continue with the good work in our own communities too: trainings, meetings and sharing SALT.
Thank you for speaking with us Moses – keep up all your hard work!
Learn how the Kericho Cluster is bridging tribal divides in this podcast with Debby.