Two of Kenya’s foremost writers, Aleya Kassam and Sitawa Namwalie, will be performing at the Tribe Hotel, Village Market, to highlight the work of the TNR Trust, an organisation working to help eradicate rabies in Kenya.
Sitawa Namwalie is a poet, playwright and performer and last year’s winner of Kenya’s Sanaa Theatre Awards Best Spoken Word and Poetry.
Aleya Kassam is a reader, writer and performer and has been published in Jalada, Mail and Guardian Africa.
The TNR Trust was established in 2015 in response to a growing concern about the stray dog and cat population.
It aims to eradicate rabies in Kenya by combining rabies education with a practical program of affordable animal vaccination and population management of dogs and cats.
“Similar programs have proved to be successful in other parts of the world, reducing the spread of rabies and improving community health,” organisers said in a statement.
They said that through donations the TNR Trust has acquired a mobile veterinary clinic that will serve low income urban and rural areas and which will encourage owners to vaccinate and sterilize their animals on site.
“Through the clinic, dog and cat owners will be connected to government veterinary services so that they can continue annual vaccinations and other animal care,” the statement said.
An estimated 2,000 people die from rabies every year in Kenya, the majority of cases caused by dog bites.
Forty percent of fatalities are children under 15, the government says. Once symptoms show, rabies is always fatal, yet through dog and cat vaccinations it is an easily preventable disease.
The Trust said it aims to vaccinate a minimum of 21,000 animals and sterilise 1400 a year, as well as educate the public on improving community health and animal welfare.
