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A mission of support for the Piquot tribe

By Emilie Doolittle

In Baringo, Kenya, where the Piquot tribe lives, the dry land undulates for miles with no city in sight. The people haul water from a nearby waterhole and store it in a plastic trashcan, which provides the cleanest water for at least 50 miles.

The 1,000 people living in Baringo don't have electricity. The women and children keep a fire burning at all times, because restarting a fire takes too much effort. When the women have to leave the village to get water from the waterhole, their children are left unsupervised to tend the fire.

Children often burned their arms and legs when their mothers left them alone with the fire. With no running water in the community, the children would scream in pain until their mothers could run back to help them. A few children died because they diddn't receive medical attention in time. The nearest hospital was 40 miles away.

Far away from Kenya, Los Gatos resident Dr. Cathy Grellet, Saratogan Nancy Miller and Monte Sereno resident Nancy Panvini talk about going to Baringo in June. They plan to take medical and school supplies to donate to the Piquot tribe.

Violent protests that started after Mwai Kibaki was declared the president after the Dec. 27 election have delayed plans the three women had of going to Kenya. Grellet and her companions plan to make the trip in June if Kenya returns to a peaceful state.

Grellet first visited Baringo in 1999. For years, it had been in a terrible state, with problems ranging from scarcity of water, livestock overgrazing, impoverished single mothers, malnourished children and inadequate health care facilities. It wasn't until Dr. Elizabeth Meyerhoff moved to Baringo that the community started to improve. Not only did Meyerhoff start a burn clinic that helped save the lives of children there, she cultivated the land, providing the Piquot people with resources and healthier livestock.

Grellet admired the changes Meyerhoff had made. The desert had turned to grassland, and a dam filled the waterhole with more water. However, the people needed more medical supplies. They were wrapping their burn wounds with sterilized newspapers. Grellet wanted to provide bandages and Silvadene burn cream.

Since her first visit, she has made four voyages back to Baringo, bringing medical supplies. She estimated that for each visit she donated between $10,000 and $25,000 to the clinic. Grellet brought antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication, painkillers and bandages. She brought the women prenatal vitamins and contraceptives.

This year Grellet and her two friends plan to bring school supplies, donated by St. Andrew's School in Saratoga, to the children in Baringo. Miller, a former teacher at West Valley College, plans to educate the children about natural hygiene.

"I will basically be assisting Cathy in any way she can use me," said Miller. "I think what she's doing is fantastic. She is just deeply concerned about health and women's issues around the world."

Grellet has been to every continent several times. (She and her husband, Fred Smith, were even married next to a penguin colony in Antarctica.) Since 1999, she has worked with tribes along the Amazon River in South America, the Kuna tribe on the Sand Blas Islands in Panama and several African tribes. Every time Grellet visits people in a remote area of the world, she tries to bring medical supplies.

Grellet described the Piquot tribe. "They may not be educated, but they're highly intelligent," she said. "To see people living a very traditional life the way they've lived for the last 500 years, it gives you a true appreciation for life. It doesn't matter what kind of car you drive, your level of education and the kind of things you have; what really matters is the type of person you are--your character."

She sees a commonality between people living in the Silicon Valley and the remote tribes she works with. She said, "We all value our family and our relationships."

Donations for the Baringo burn clinic may be shipped to Cathy Grellet, 555 Knowles Drive, Suite 114, Los Gatos, CA 95032.