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New Community Health Program Director
By Scott Lacy
November 18, 2009
African Sky is excited to announce that former Peace Corps volunteer Kate Lechner (Minnesota) has joined the African Sky family as our Community Health Program Director.
While serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, Kate received an African Sky Mini-Grant to support a wonderful project that distributed young moringa trees to more than 200 families as well as a community health clinic. Moringa seedlings require only small amounts of water to quickly grow into resource-rich trees, which provide shade and nutritional leaves to supplement local diets (which lack fruits and vegetables). Kate worked with local experts to train 15 local moringa health educators, and she developed a do-it-yourself pamphlet in three languages so Peace Corps Volunteers and Malians can replicate her community moringa project.
As Director of African Sky’s Community Health Program, Kate is exploring ways that we can partner with rural Malian communities to operate small health clinics in each of our “10 for 2010” schools. We are very fortunate and pleased to have such an experienced specialist like Kate in the African Sky family. If you have any questions about or ideas for our community health program, drop Kate an email through the “Contact Us” feature at www.africansky.org.
Below, Kate introduces herself to the African Sky family:
Originally from Westfield, NJ, I am a 2006 graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Biology. I was employed by Macalester as a Health Educator, have worked in a women’s health clinic, conducted independent research on health behaviors, and have presented at a national college health behavior conference. Most recently, I have worked as a Health Education Specialist in rural Gao, Mali for two years with the United States Peace Corps—where I was first introduced to African Sky, and received a grant for a Moringa Tree Farm to improve the nutrition of the village. My main work was to collaborate with the pre-existing Volunteer Health Educators to initiate a sanitation service and to disseminate preventative health information. I currently live with my partner in St. Paul, MN, and work for Macalester College.
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| Kate Lechner in Mali with Project Partners from her Moringa Tree Project, 2008 |
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