Our story
Geoffrey grew up as an only child, having lost his mom and both his two siblings to pregnancy-related complications when he was only six. His mom had developed complications after birth but was taken to a traditional healer instead of hospital, eventually succumbing to her complications. These disrupted his childhood, leading him to child labor, especially after his dad also died from a long illness just when he was about to take his final primary school exams six years later. He wanted to play a role in addressing preventable deaths. Being unable to raise school fees, Geoffrey almost lost the hope of ever getting education until a well-wisher enrolled him into a local high school four years later where he got a scholarship through UK-based sponsors, eventually securing admission to study BSc. In Population Health at Kenyatta University. His life experiences further shaped his research interests, leading him to investigate factors contributing to home deliveries in Kenya as he was determined to find solutions to the preventable deaths associated with them. His next challenge was how to start implementing the solutions he had identified.
Geoffrey Meets Alison
Alison McCarthy first visited Kenya when Geoffrey was in high school as one of his sponsors. She would later return in 2014 after his undergraduate program. But just after they started the conversation about Geoffrey’s research findings, during one of their regular walks in the village, they came across a pregnant mother who had gone on labor by the roadside. Thanks to Alison’s skills, having worked as a nurse in England. She helped the woman deliver the baby successfully. With this additional physical evidence, an intervention was urgently needed using the simple solutions we had already identified. This conversation between Alison and Geoffrey, both passionate about maternal and child health, led them to co-found Begin Life Safely to offer the much-needed safe motherhood education to help poor Kenyan women have safe births and assure their newborns of a safe start in life.
Alison is now retired from her nursing work in England. Geoffrey is currently pursuing his doctorate in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health at Virginia Tech, United States. They’ve continued working together to save lives through Begin Life Safely.