In November, 21 Africa Fire Mission team members traveled to Kenya to facilitate the first ever All Kenya Fire Academy. Africa Fire Mission partnered with Missions of Hope International, Kenya Airport Authority and the Kenya National Fire Brigades Association to train nearly 250 Kenyan firefighters, chief officers and disaster responders.
Our team of 21 came together from all across the United States and was made up of career and volunteers firefighters, company officers and chiefs. Together we taught courses in Community Fire Prevention and Response, Senior Leadership Development, Fire Investigation and Urban Search and Rescue. Classes were held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Mission of Hope International's Kosovo School in the Mathare Valley of Nairobi. Attendees of the training come from all across Kenya including 22 of the 47 counties; several national organizations, NGO's and 1 person joined us from the Country of Uganda.
Throughout the week, our instructor cadre was able to share their knowledge and experiences to help the Kenyan students take what they learned during the week back to their homes and share it with those firefighters who could not attend the academy. Our instructors teaching hands on portions of the training used tools that were already in use in Kenya to accomplish many of the tasks while also introducing new tools and techniques that could be useful as well. We had use of a building that was being deconstructed and a rubble pile at the airport. Our classes were able to use these areas to build a burn cell for the fire investigation class so that they could study burn patters and to simulate rescuing victims from collapsed buildings. Our senior leadership class shared strategies for leadership success and spent time working in small groups to address real life issues facing the Kenyan leaders.
Our community prevention and response class spent the week training at the Missions of Hope Kosovo Center in the Mathare Valley. They shared prevention strategies as well as basic fire suppression skills with the fire department and community members. On Thursday morning, local community members brought a man who had been stabbed in the neck to our team for help. One of the fire departments taking the training had driven an ambulance. As our team members began rendering aid to the injured man, the ambulance was able to find directions to a hospital. Our team was able to render life saving aid and rush the man to the hospital where he was able to receive treatment for his injuries that he never could have received in the slums. Later that same afternoon a fire broke out in the community near the Kosovo School. The area where the fire was burning was to dangerous for our instructors to go to but Kenyan students were able to rush to the scene where they began fighting the fire until the fire department could arrive. The Kenyan students were able to pull a mom and a baby from a burning home. This quick action saved lives and limited the damage to only about 10 homes when often fires like this regularly damage 100 homes or more.
Using our CHE based training approach we were able to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of the students and community members we taught. We are already developing plans for our return trip to Kenya in November of 2016 to continue building the capacity of the Kenyan fire brigades and the relationships between the governments and Missions of Hope International.
