The Walkers Social Club, a group of diverse professionals who walk every Saturday morning, will this Saturday engage in a kidney health awareness walk in collaboration with Mphukira Foundation.
The walk will start at 5am at HS Winehouse in Namiwawa through Chilomoni and climb the Michiru Mountain before trekking down to Namiwawa.
Coordinator for The Walkers Ethel Kafumbwa-Mtilatila said in an interview that they decided to partner with Mphukira Foundation in raising awareness about kidney health through the walk.
“Our friend Emmanuel Maliro who is in the USA receiving kidney treatment founded Mphukira Foundation in order to raise awareness about kidney health after discovering that he was born with only one kidney which has also been affected.”
“He reached out to us to help in raising awareness of kidney health so that more people should be aware of the disease before they are on the hospital beds receiving treatment.
“One of our core objectives as The Walkers is to promote wellness, community engagement, and charitable impact through walking and social events and that is why we are taking part in this event,” said Kafumbwa-Mtilatila.
Maliro thanked The Walkers group for organising the awareness walk this Saturday.
“This October, Mphukira Foundation is asking various groups to join us in raising awareness about kidney health.
“This is not a fundraising activity. We are encouraging different groups to use something they already enjoy doing to help start conversations about kidney health. We are glad that The Walkers will have their activity this weekend,” said Maliro.
Maliro, who runs the organisation alongside his wife, Dr. Susan Brown, said the idea is to get people talking about kidney health, a subject that is often ignored until someone becomes seriously ill.
“People should know their kidneys, understand how they work and learn how to take care of them. We should not only start discussing kidneys when someone is already in a dialysis ward. These conversations need to happen much earlier, before people develop serious kidney problems,” he said.
“For most of my life, I did not even know that I was born with only one kidney. I only discovered this when I became seriously ill. If I lived all those years without knowing, it is possible that many other people do not know either. That is why we are encouraging people to get their kidneys checked and know sooner, rather than waiting until something goes wrong,” said Maliro.
Maliro further said the campaign is not simply about walking or hiking, but about ensuring that participants learn something they did not know before and share that knowledge with others.
“We do not want people to just walk or hike and go back home. We want them to finish their activity having learnt something about their kidneys that they had never thought about before. And then we want them to take that message home to their husbands, wives, children, parents, uncles, aunties and other relatives.
“Ask someone what they know about their kidneys. Start a conversation. That is how we want the message to spread from one person to another, one family to another and one community to another,” said Maliro.
During the walk, the participants are expected to take photos and short videos which can be shared on various social media platforms as part of the October Kidney Awareness Campaign.
In December last year, The Walkers collaborated with Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) Children’s Cancer ward to raise about K50 million for the children suffering from cancer at the referral hospital.
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