For Tabitha Atieno, poverty was not just a hardship but a battle she had to fight daily. Despite facing the grim reality of providing for her family, she did not succumb to her circumstances and went ahead to establish one of the most promising non-governmental organizations(NGOs) that have impacted the lives of thousands of vulnerable people in Kibera slums.
With only 26 US Dollars, which is approximately Ksh3,372 at the current exchange rates, she turned her small 10×10-foot home into a beacon of hope that would later establish some of the most impacting services to the people of Kibra.
What began as a desperate attempt to make ends meet soon transformed into a lifeline for the underserved in her community. With unwavering resilience, Atieno built a healthcare initiative that would later grow into a widely recognized nonprofit, proving that even in the face of poverty, small acts of courage can spark monumental change.
At the start of the initiative, she used to see patients day and night and did not turn them away despite the inability of the majority of them to pay.
A photo collage of CFK Africa founder Tabitha Atieno Festo and the CEO Jeffrey Okoro.
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CFK Africa
Her dedication to community service laid the foundation for the nonprofit organization, CFK Africa, which laid the foundation for its primary healthcare work.
The facility has grown and received notable awards both nationally and internationally and now handles over 50,000 patients every year.
”Tabitha saw patients 24/7 and did not turn anyone away, regardless of their ability to pay. Her dedication to community service laid the foundation for CFK’s Primary Health Care work, which now serves more than 50,000 patients every year,” a statement from the organization attributes to her.
In 2005, just a year after the NGO was started, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation named CFK Africa a Hero of Global Health 2005. This was soon followed by an award from the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum that honored CFK Africa with its Reflections of Hope Award in 2008.
In 2006, CFK Africa co-founder Rye Barcott was named ABC News Person of the Year pushing the image of the organization to the international scene.
Other notable achievements of CFK Africa included being featured as the cover story on an issue of TIME Magazine for Kids, titled A Higher Goal: Soccer is Helping Kenyan Kids Get Set for the Future.
Beyond the awards, CFK Africa has grown to co-host one of the largest overseas population-based infectious disease surveillance programs operated by the American Centres for Disease Control(CDC), Kenya Medical Research Institute(KEMRI), Washington State University(WSU), and the African Medical and Research Foundation(AMREF), supporting data collection to inform health policy formulation in Kenya and beyond.
Though Atieno passed away in 2004 after a short and abrupt illness, CFK Africa continues to carry on her legacy of ”sacrificing for success” and her commitment to improving maternal and child health in informal settlements.
”CFK Africa works in slums throughout Kenya, including Kibera, which is located just outside of Nairobi and is one of the largest informal settlements in Africa. In the places where we operate, aid can be the difference between life and death. In this crowded slum, residents live on just $3(Ksh388.35) a day and have little access to health care,” CFK attributes to her.
An undated image of one of the CFK Africa clinics named after the founder Tabitha Atieno Festo.
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CFK Africa