Vision of Sister Freda's Foundation
An efficient and high quality health care system that is accessible,
equitable and affordable for every Kenyan.
Sister Freda’s Hospital & Outreach
Sister Freda’s was established in 1994 as a medical clinic to serve the local community. Before creating the clinic, Sr. Freda worked in a private hospital where she witnessed countless people suffering either because they could not afford treatment, or because they had no way of getting to a hospital.
In order to serve as many people as possible, Sr. Freda decided to open a clinic in close proximity to the Kitale slum. While the clinic served many, due to a lack of resources, many people who visited the clinic still needed to be taken to a hospital. Sr. Freda then decided to expand her clinic into a hospital.
Sr. Freda's Hospital is open 24 hours a day, everyday throughout the year. The hospital contains a pediatric ward, a labor ward, an operating theatre, a laboratory, a pharmacy, and some general diagnosis and hospital wards.
The hospital sees upwards of 50 patients a day; roughly 20 per week urgently require hospitalization. The busiest time of year is the rainy season, April to September, due to the increase in waterborne diseases. Only about 2 percent of Sr. Freda's patients are charged for health care as most cannot afford necessary treatment.
In addition to the hospital, Sr. Freda has also established community outreach clinics in the local slums, refugee camps, and villages which offer free health care and education to at-risk communities. There is also a VCT clinic for counseling HIV/AIDS patients.
Child Care
In her outreach work, Sr. Freda saw an alarming amount of malnutrition and disease caused by poor diet, especially among children.
Since 2004, Sr. Freda has offered a Nursery School / Feeding Program. The nursery school has three classrooms, and the children are separated into three groups according to their ability. The children are from nearby villages and their parents are very poor, they have only one parent, or they are destitute and living with relations.
As of April 2008, the Nursery School / Feeding Program had an attendance of 90 - 100 children daily, Monday thru Saturday. On Saturdays, the children are also given extra rations so they can have a good lunch on Sunday. Most of the children are between the ages of 3 and 6.
Sr. Freda also runs a small orphanage which houses five children, between the ages of 2 and 5, who are dependent on the hospital and donations for support. With increased support, Sr. Freda hopes to expand the orphanage and offer care for more children.
Nursing School
Sr. Freda found that upon finishing secondary school, many girls were returning to the slums they had grown up in to start families and live the lives that their education was meant to liberate them from. To create opportunities for these women to achieve success, Sr. Freda has begun construction of a nursing school.