The Chairlady of the Military Wives Association of Kenya (MWAK) Mrs Tabitha Kibochi has today delivered a lecture of opportunity during a two-day seminar for regional Warrant Officers and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCOs) at the Kenya Army Corps of Signal at Kahawa Garrison, Nairobi.
The Chair elaborated on the mandate of the Association, its vision and the milestones it has realized just two years after it was formed.
Mrs Kibochi affirmed MWAK’s commitment of improving the holistic well-being of military families, those serving, retired, widows and orphans with a general aim of ‘Walking Far Together’.
She reiterated that the Association is open to every female spouse of a serving, retired or deceased soldier across all ranks and implored the soldiers to encourage their spouses to join.
“The leadership of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is soldier-centric and has effectively taken care of our soldiers.”As MWAK, we are family-centric and came to complement the services of the Compensation and Welfare (C&W) Branch,” said Mrs Kibochi.
She maintained that any soldier will perform more effectively and efficiently when he knows that his family is well-taken care of which informed the decision of the Association to lobby for improved healthcare in military hospitals.
“Our main focus is to ensure our facilities offer the best services and become centres of excellence, especially the KDF-sponsored schools. In addition, we want to see cohesive and functional families as the basic unit of any community,” said the MWAK Chairperson.She emphasized that MWAK shall continue to spearhead its thematic pillars among them health by issuing assistive devices to children abled differently and conducting maternal outreach campaigns.
“We realized that some health complications especially autism and cerebral palsy can be avoided if mothers get access to quality healthcare before, during and after childbirth,” Mrs Kibochi underscored.
She said MWAK has intentions to construct a learning centre for children with special needs and has organized a marathon on 18 June 2023 to raise money towards support of the ambitious project.
Colonel Alexander Kiprop who’s the Colonel in charge of Welfare and Compensation at the Defence Headquarters urged the Warrant Officers and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers present to be ambassadors of MWAK in their regions.
His sentiments were echoed by Major Beryl Olusi who outlined MWAK pillars among them mentorship, housing, veteran affairs, recreation and wellbeing, monitoring and evaluation, partnerships and collaboration as well as funding.
Mrs Kibochi was accompanied by MWAK Secretary Mrs Effie Kinuthia and Mrs Elizabeth McOkech who’s a member of the Association.
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