Speaker Ashley Peatfield - The Funzi and Bodo Trust

Ashley started his talk by saying that he was very familiar with Rotary as his charity had been supported by York Vikings for many years and he had also talked to other clubs.

He said his story was don't ever take a cheap holiday. As his wife was a teacher, they had always had to take holidays during the expensive school holidays. However, after the birth of his first daughter they were able to go outside that time while his wife was on maternity leave. They went to travel the agent who recommended Kenya. As they were travelling with a 6-month-old baby one of them would stay at the resort hotel whilst the other took a day trip and then the next day they would swap over. One of the trips that Ashley took was to Funzi Island. It had lots of mangroves and amazing bird life, and he thought it a really beautiful place, so he told wife to go. They were both so enamoured that they went back on holiday several times.

On one trip Ashley came across a young man who was desperate because his new baby wouldn’t stop crying. Ashley looked at it and saw that it had blisters in its ears. There was no medical facility on the island as the clinic had closed several years earlier. In order to help Ashley took the baby to the mainland for treatment which only cost £40.

On returning to the island a young man from village showed him a dilapidated building which had been the clinic that shut 10 years ago. He had kept a trolley and medical instruments safe. But in fact, none of the equipment was any use as it had rusted. Ashley asked the young man why he had kept them. He said that his daughter had been infected with malaria and he needed to take here to the mainland for treatment. But the daily boat didn’t come for several days because it was being used by tourists. When he finally got to Bodo on the mainland, he had to carry her for 40 minutes to the main road and then hitch a lift to the hospital but by the time he got there his daughter was dead.

There was a fantastic hotel on island which cost £300 per night with everything a tourist could desire and yet 5 minutes down road the local people were living in mud huts with no water or sanitation. The man wanted to reopen the clinic which would cost £6,000 per year to run. So Ashley started to fund raise in the UK and achieved the target in 6 months. He then went back and got the villagers involved in  refurbishing the clinic which was then reopened.

This was the start of FunziBodo trust. Today it has built 2 schools one on the island of Funzi and the other on the mainland in Bodo. These have been equipped with library books, computers, drinking water from rain capture, and sanitation. Now the schools are getting students through to university and they are coming out as marine engineers, nurses, physiotherapists, teachers and other professions.

A second clinic has been opened in Bodo. To use the clinics people are asked to pay a little amount and then the trust tops up whatever required for the treatment. Ashley gave one example of a 10 year old girl who had skin cancer. She continues to struggle with the condition but is now 22 and has a positive attitude even though she continues to battle ongoing cancer.

Other projects have included building maternity rooms to reduce birthing complications, a children's disability centre training kids to walk, a farming school with shade nets to protect crops, teaching women to sew to make menstruation pads and a a tool library.

For more information please see the attached leaflet produced by the Funzi and Bodo Trust: - Funzi_and_Bodo_Trust.pdf

The trust also they have an excellent web site that gives more information: https://www.funzi.org.uk/