Florence Aluoch
Florence is a Community Health Promoter at SHOFCO, empowering families through health education, preventive care, and community support.
When many clinics around us closed, our work didn’t stop, but it did get harder.
I live in Mathare. I’ve worked here as a Community Health Promoter for five years. Every morning, I walk the narrow paths between houses, greeting families, checking on mothers, talking to girls. We talk about family planning, safe delivery, clean water, and health insurance. Most days, it feels like there are more people than there are resources—but we keep going.
When the USAID cuts came, many nearby clinics lost funding. Some shut down completely. Women who used to walk five minutes for a checkup suddenly had nowhere to go. But at SHOFCO, we stayed open. For better or worse we had no USAID funding. Our work even grew. We saw a 70% rise in demand because people from other facilities started coming to us, having nowhere else to go.
Even when the supplies ran low, I kept visiting homes. I carried my counseling cards and explained every method—implants, Depo-Provera shots, pills. I told them, “We may not have everything today, but we are still here.”
Building Trust
In Mathare, people know me. I’m their neighbor. They see me at the market, at the water point, and in church. That trust makes a difference. When I talk about family planning, they listen. Sometimes they have to listen in secret, but they listen.
At first, it wasn’t easy. Some women feared side effects. Some men said no. Some churches called it sin. But over time, things have been changing. We keep talking, explaining, answering questions. We hold meetings with men and chiefs and pastors. Understanding is growing.
More women are coming to the SHOFCO Mathare Clinic for modern methods. It is a tier 3, meaning we offer many healthcare services. We’ve seen a big increase in long-term options like implants. Girls are staying in school. In our area, teen pregnancies have dropped by 73% at SHOFCO clinics.
One mother, Sharon, told me, “I can finally plan my life.” Another, Maureen, said, “With my implant, I can give my child the care she deserves.” Stories like that remind me why I keep walking.
I also helped families register under the Social Health Authority (SHA) for the new national insurance. I didn’t want any mother to miss care just because she couldn’t afford it.
Why It Matters
To me, family planning is not just about preventing pregnancy. It’s about planning for a better life. When a woman can choose when to have a child, she can feed her family, save for school, and stay healthy.
SHOFCO serves over 97,000 Kenyans through family planning alone. That is a planned future for girls and women who may have otherwise had no say. Every implant, every conversation, every clinic visit is another girl finishing school, another mother staying safe, another family with hope.
Keep Showing Up
We’ve learned something important here in Mathare: even when systems fail, communities can still stand strong. We don’t wait for help to come, we keep going. Because hope doesn’t need funding. It needs people who care enough to keep showing up.
And that’s what I do, every day.
