Life Bloom Services supported by our partners both locally and globally, was among the first organizations to respond to the distress call from the Mai Mahiu flood disaster. Mai Mahiu is within Naivasha Sub County, Nakuru County in Kenya. The Kenya Red Cross, the Kenya government and the community members moved swiftly to rescue survivors. Life Bloom was the first organization to respond (in just about 1 hour after the disaster struck) with psychological support for survivors and families already rushing to check on their loved ones, at the hospitals and besides the flooded waters, with hope that their family members and neighbors would be pulled out alive. The Mai Mahiu disaster resulted in loss of more than 70 lives as reported, while more than 60 people were never traced, and severe environmental damages. The floods destroyed homes, displaced victims, claimed lives and left the victims psychologically disoriented.
Mental well-being is one of Life Bloom’s pillars. Immediately after the distress call went on air,, Life Bloom reached out to her pool of counselors who readily supported the victims by offering psychosocial support to the victims both at the site of the tragedy and hospitals. Since April to date, Life Bloom has supported 759 adults and children, both victims and their families. Out of the 759, 570 were adults aged between 18 to 50 years, and 189 were children aged 7 to 17 years. These have been both group counseling and individual counseling sessions.
Five months on, the counseling sessions are still in progress now door to door, where the displaced families were resettled. The individuals and families continue to pick up their pieces, restart their lives, while some are still struggling with finding a glimmer of hope after experiencing such heavy losses. All the children survivors of the floods are back to school, some of them in a different school than where they were before the floods happened. Designated teachers follow up on their progress offering emotional support where needed, and referring some for professional therapy sessions.
CASE STUDYOne of the success stories among others of psychosocial support, rescue, placement, settlement and reintegration. During this period of offering support to the flood victims and survivors, the Life Bloom team of counselors identified a 14 year old girl during one of the counseling sessions, who had faced defilement and had become pregnant as a result, prior to the flooding disaster. The girl survivor came from a family of 5 which consisted of her mother and her three siblings, one of whom was living with a physical disability. Luckily, her entire family survived the disaster, but they had been robbed of a place to call home.
Due to the shock of the tragedy, one of our staff members who was in charge of rescue, placement and reintegration, took over the case and ensured that the girl was taken to the Naivasha Sub-County Referral hospital for further care. The survivor was placed under observation for one week, and underwent a cesarean section to deliver her baby. Afterwards, our team organized for her and her baby to be placed in Beehive Charitable Children Institution (CCI) in Nakuru. Throughout her stay in the CCI, our team continued following through on her progress and offering the family psychosocial support. In readiness for the survivor to be reintegrated back to her family in September, an assessment of the mother was conducted to determine what business was suitable for her in order to understand how she would manage to best support her children and grandchild moving forward. Life Bloom through her networks and stakeholders, was able to follow through on the resettlement of the girl and her family. Rent of 3 years was paid and a hotel business established for the mother. Reintegration of the girl survivor, through extensive psychosocial support and continuous assessment of the entire family’s well-being, was achieved in the end.
Observations Both the survivors and the Mai Mahiu community needed intensified psychosocial support.Women and girls became vulnerable for sexual exploitation within the camp they were placed before settlement.Young men who were involved in the rescue process went through mental torture due to lack of psychiatrist for their attentionA significant number of young women who had gone to Arab countries in search of a job lost their children who they had left under the care of their grandmothers.The relocation from their home led to a number of children not being able to get access to their schools.
Practical Recommendations Psychosocial support has had a significant positive impact on the lives of the flood victims in terms of coping with trauma, rebuilding their lives, and developing resilience. To have long-term support for Mai Mahiu victims and survivors, training 30 survivors on mental health would ensure continued therapy sessions by wounded healers of their community.Continued door to door therapy sessions for survivors..Consider conducting follow-up assessments to monitor progress and identify any ongoing needs.Mai Mahiu region (which is about 22 miles from Naivasha Town), does not have trained community counselors. Life Bloom plans to raise funds and train counselors in 2025 in this region.Strategic Partnerships are key in any community response process. This local and global partnership continues to support transformative work through Life Bloom for our communities.
Conclusion Overall, psychosocial support has had a significant positive impact on the lives of the flood victims in terms of coping with trauma, rebuilding their lives, and developing resilience. However, due to varying needs the victims responded to therapy in varying ways that is some require longer term support white others benefitted from short term therapy. It is essential to continue providing the ongoing support and address the unique needs of each individual to ensure long-term recovery.
Continuing the on-going support of counselors through donations to Life Bloom will guarantee the support of the children and their families who were affected by the flood.
