Fall 2021 Students taking the under CMS3700 course impact the community through various projects

By Dr. Margaret Munyae, Dr. Joyce Ndegwa & Dr. Betty Mbatia

USIU-Africa has community service and outreach as a major component of its mission. As partial fulfillment of this aspect of the mission, the University offers its learners the opportunity to perform community service through the course CMS3700. The course is designed with the broad objective of giving our students an opportunity to learn about giving back to the society.

The delivery of the course takes two approaches designed as either hands-on experience or project based approach. In the hands on approach, full time students spend ten (10) weeks in a selected site and each week they spend three (3/4) days undertaking hands on activity for three (3/4) hours. This translates to a minimum of ninety (90) hours of hands on activity with the community. For part time students, the project approach is used where a group of five students identify a site, undertake a needs assessment, develop a proposal and upon approval, deliver a project that would address some of the identified needs. They also spend at least ten (10) hours of hands-on activity.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, it was not feasible to proceed with the hands-on approach and thus the General education program recommended the course to be delivered as projects. The students in a given class are placed in groups of fifteen (15) and advised to use innovative and creative ways of fund raising with the aim of addressing a community need. One way is contributing a minimum of Ksh. 3,000 each to execute the agreed upon community project.

In Fall 2021, there were 33 projects for the 11 sections of CMS3700. The project handing over began in week 10 and is expected to continue until week 13.

Below are some of projects together with their impact:

  • Donation of bed side cabinets and baby milk formula to Jesse Kay hospital. This was to enusre proper storage of essential presonal items for inpatients. The milk formula was to support babies who are unable to breast feed due to various reasons
  • Donation of autoclave and adult diapers to Nyumba Ya Wazee in Kasarani. The autoclave will be used to sterilize gauzes and clothes to be used in wound dressing. Diapers are a necessity for the bedridden/immobile residents as a result of comorbidities.
  • Donation of mummy care packages for eighteen teenage mothers at Ruaraka Neema Uhai hospital. They work in collaboration with Wings of Compassion which is the only rescue home in Kenya that takes in pregnant teenage girls who are orphaned, vulnerable and under the age of fifteen. The home aims to give hope to vulnerable and hopeless pregnant teenage girls and a new lease of life.
  • Donation of wheel chairs at Chesire home of the elderly
  • Donations to other sites included water tanks, mattresses, blankets, bed sheets, shoes, foodstuff, milk formula, detergents, masks, sanitizers, lap tops, printers, printing paper, school text books, repairs of bathrooms, kitchen and painting of facilities, among others.

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