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Women Around the World: Dr. Jemimah Kariuki · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this Sanny and Samantha and don't welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told to your production of I Heart Radio. Okay, Annie,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: So I do want to ask you before we start
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  Speaker 1: our Women Around the World. Would you consider yourself a
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: fixer or a problem solver? Yes? Uh, caveat to that.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I will also say that I sometimes describe myself as
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: someone who creates more problems by trying to solve problems. Um,
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  Speaker 1: I'm very, very very eager to solve problems and I
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: hate seeing people struggling are in pain. And because of that,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: like sometimes I think when people tell me something, all
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  Speaker 1: they really want is to be heard. But what I
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  Speaker 1: hear is I have to fix this for you. And
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: sometimes that's not the case, like it's I just need
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to tell you this thing, And it's hard for me
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  Speaker 1: because I'm like my mind is racing trying to think
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  Speaker 1: of how can I help this person, How can I
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  Speaker 1: fix this? Do I know anything? That being said, I
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  Speaker 1: am someone who aggressively tackles issues if I am tasked
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: with it. I'm not tasked with it, perhaps not right,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: but I will try to. I like marking things off
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: my list, as you know. I like being someone who
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: can just be like, Okay, I've figured this out. We
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it anymore. I don't have
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to worry about it anymore, how about you. Yeah, So
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  Speaker 1: it's according to the role. Like if someone else is
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  Speaker 1: taking up that role, then I won't worry about it.
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  Speaker 1: But if there's something that needs to be done, it's
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  Speaker 1: not going to be done or it's not being done,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: then I will handle it. And I'm absolutely that same way.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: And like project bigger projects, and I'm like, Okay, you
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: got this, you got this, And if someone doesn't take
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: charge to get it organized, I'll do it the same
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: way with like if I have something like my phone
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: or something that I have around, I will try to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: see if I can fix it first. Like that is
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  Speaker 1: my mentality if we're having issues. So one of the
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  Speaker 1: things in my old job was trying to have innovative
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: ideas to get to solve big impact issue. So let's
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: say we had a really huge problem with families being
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: able to transport kids to therapy. So one of the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: things that I had to do was look around to
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  Speaker 1: see what we could do as in home therapy, how
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: we can provide funding, what routes we can do in
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  Speaker 1: order to get all that, like that was something that
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  Speaker 1: was a part of my job. So for me those
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: level of problems, yes, at the same time, like when
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: it comes to like friendship stuff typically like if someone
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: is going through issues, I will be there to listen.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: But I also have that problem solver thing as well
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: with being a social worker and be like, let me
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: tell you what this might which is not always welcome
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and rightfully so. But when it came to the community stuff,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I tried as best as I could and trying to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: get some effective things. And honestly, the reason I wanted
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: to bring this up and we're gonna talk a little
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: bit more is because this has kind of been a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: theme for our specific Women around the World edition today.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And the woman we're talking about who is a doctor
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  Speaker 1: out of Kenya who not only makes an amazing amount
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of impact and healthcare in her community, but the overall
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: health and lives of mothers and expect that mothers around
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: her community also, and who we are speaking about specifically
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: is Dr Jemima Karaoke, And yeah, she has a really
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  Speaker 1: fascinating story. Yes, and the reason we are talking about
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: problem solvers is because Dr Karayuki, her overall determination as
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: a healer and as a woman in the community has
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  Speaker 1: helps solve so many issues for women that could be
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  Speaker 1: detrimental on so many levels. Dr Karayuki is a doctor
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Kenyatta National Hospital at
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the University of Nairobi, and she specializes in preventative medicine,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: but focuses on the issues dealing with maternal and child
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  Speaker 1: health right and not only that. After the post elected
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  Speaker 1: violence in two thousand seven in Kenya where over a
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  Speaker 1: thousand people were killed and over five hundred thousand people
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  Speaker 1: were displaced after this controversial presidential election, Dr Karaoke started
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  Speaker 1: the Peace Club and then also started the Public Health Club,
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  Speaker 1: which among other things, helps run a cervical cancer prevention
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  Speaker 1: drive and she has so many things within that clinic
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  Speaker 1: to try to bring awareness to this type of cancer.
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  Speaker 1: But she has also continued her work in creating solutions
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  Speaker 1: to problems that continue to endanger the women of our community,
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  Speaker 1: especially as the pandemic has affected the country. After reading
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  Speaker 1: an article about a woman who died because she was
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  Speaker 1: not able to get care due to the COVID nineteen
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  Speaker 1: restrictions and curfew, that's when Dr Karaoke decided that something
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  Speaker 1: needed to happen and she needed to fix the situation,
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  Speaker 1: and it didn't take long for her to start the
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  Speaker 1: Wheels of Life program, which provides free ambulance services for
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  Speaker 1: mothers in labor after dark. After seeing incidents like the
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  Speaker 1: woman who died after not being able to go out
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  Speaker 1: after curfew and if a man beaten to death by
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  Speaker 1: police for violating curfew if you're trying to drive a
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  Speaker 1: woman in labor to the hospital, she pushed to find
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  Speaker 1: a safe way for women to get the care they
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  Speaker 1: need to safely give birth right and a service includes
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  Speaker 1: a call center that offers services ranging from being able
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  Speaker 1: to talk with doctors to talk about the pregnancy, or
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  Speaker 1: a free ambulance service to take them to a clinic
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  Speaker 1: because that's not available. Ambulances are not available for many
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  Speaker 1: of those who I need and within the first year
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  Speaker 1: they have received over a hundred thousand calls seeking help
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  Speaker 1: and guidance while they were pregnant. And of course this
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  Speaker 1: has brought much recognition for her hard work and advocacy,
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  Speaker 1: including being named BBCs on Women in twenty twenty and
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  Speaker 1: just recently given the twenty one Global Health award for
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  Speaker 1: her contribution to advance in global health. She stated in
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: receiving her award, I am excited beyond imagination as I
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  Speaker 1: never dreamt or saw anything like this coming, an acknowledgment
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  Speaker 1: of something humble that I started only a year ago
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  Speaker 1: out of the frustrations that I felt for the many
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  Speaker 1: mothers who lost their lives and babies because they couldn't
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: access a health facility. And as for the future, she
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: says she hopes to see the organization integrated in the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: health care system, but for now she is happy with
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  Speaker 1: how it's going and to show the women that they
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  Speaker 1: are not alone and that quote they need to know
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  Speaker 1: they can safely deliver in clinics despite the pandemic and
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that they have help at hand. Right and we've seen
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the story time and time again where COVID and the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: pandemic and quarantine has caused such mass havoc. There was
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of regression essentially, and so many of the
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: things that have been doing well, such as maternal morbidity
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  Speaker 1: rates uh they were going down for a little while
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  Speaker 1: in Kenya, and now because of the pandemic and because
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: of car FEUs, it caused another rise in those senseless deaths,
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  Speaker 1: and we've seen access has been limited because of that
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: as well, and it continues to be an issue everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: not just out in Africa and or we've I think
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  Speaker 1: we've talked about India, and we've talked about Pakistan before
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  Speaker 1: how it's been affecting them for a while now. Um,
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  Speaker 1: in the US we see it time and time again.
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  Speaker 1: We've talked about reservations being impacted on US soil and
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  Speaker 1: how they're not getting the care that they deserve and
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  Speaker 1: that they need as well, and it seems to be
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  Speaker 1: an overall issue we're continuing to talk about as well
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  Speaker 1: as the fact that it is causing a setback when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to women's rights in general for the entire world. Um.
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  Speaker 1: And it's it's really sad that we have to come
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: back here and have this conversation. But obviously it's women
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  Speaker 1: like Dr Karaoke who are making a difference and solving
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  Speaker 1: these problems one step at a time. So it's phenomenal
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  Speaker 1: to be able to talk about what she and people
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: like her are doing. Yeah. Absolutely, Um. Just the other
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  Speaker 1: day I was thinking about our pre COVID episodes where
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: we were talking about like how the future is going
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  Speaker 1: for women, and then COVID happens and now we're like,
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  Speaker 1: it's setting women so far back, and it's really disheartening
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  Speaker 1: to see. Oh so these are the issues where we're
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  Speaker 1: just willing to let so much regress. But it's really
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  Speaker 1: it is really heartening on the other end to see
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  Speaker 1: women standing up and fighting to make these issues heard
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  Speaker 1: and to to continue to push and not let something
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  Speaker 1: like a pandemic just eradicate or completely destroy all the
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  Speaker 1: progress that we've made. Right yes, So, as always, listeners,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: please let us know if you think there's someone we
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: should cover in this segment. You can email us at
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Stuff Media Mom Stuff at iHeart media dot com. You
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: can find us on Instagram and Stuff I've Never Told
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: You are on Twitter at Months of Podcast. Thanks as
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: always to our super producer, Christina, a very much problem
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: solver oh yes, oh yes, and they thanks to you
• 9:00
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