HEALTHCARE

KRA Volunteers Visit Special School as Part of Neurodiversity Initiative

2023-08-25T11:46:37+00:00

By Junne Ndanu

Percy Davies Special School in Murang’a County is a public primary school that hosts children with autism disorder and other developmental disabilities. On 25^th July 2023, KRA volunteers comprising of staff visited the institution as part of the organisation’s neurodiversity initiative. Neurodiversity is espoused in KRA’s corporate sustainability programme. The neurodiversity principle holds that there are differences in human brain function and teaches all of us to accept that no two brains are alike and that is sufficient.

Students at Percy Davis Special School in Murang'a County pose for a photo with KRA volunteers during the visit.

Tenda Wema Initiative

The volunteers engaged 89 students at the school and distributed donations from KRA staff from across the country under KRA’s ‘Tenda Wema’ campaign. Tenda Wema is an anchor for KRA’s staff volunteerism programme and seeks to encourage staff to participate in community development. The volunteers also got the opportunity to appreciate the teachers’ contribution for their good work in being great care givers to the students. The donations included maize flour, wheat flour, cooking oil, rice, sanitary towels, biscuits and sugar. The engagement also involved singing and dancing with the students and a motivational session between the students and the volunteers who were led by KRA’s Central Regional Coordinator, Mrs. Grace Murichu.

The Deputy Principal at the school Mr. Tom Mbugua Kariuki stated that the institution takes care of students with special needs and mental challenges. “Your initiative demonstrates KRA’s commitment to making a positive impact on the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities,” he remarked. He also explained the curriculum of the school and the lessons they learn including number tunes, communication skills, self-help skills, orientation and mobility that helps fit in the students’ areas of weaknesses. He also described some of the disorders at the school including autism, cerebral palsy, meningitis and dyslexia among others.

KRA has in recent year’s strengthened its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) function that is built on the four pillars of education, healthcare, sports and environment. Neurodiversity which falls under healthcare will continue to be a focus area for the organisation for now and the future.

SMILE

2021-09-21T11:15:56+00:00

Sometimes, when we feel hopeless about the word and our part in it, we tend to look at situations with pessimism. There is so much social pressure to be or appear to be happy that we may feel ashamed when we are not. Adding shame to sadness is a pretty toxic cocktail. It is hard enough to deal with sadness, depression, or any type of anxiety without the added societal expectations. You might not be in such a situation therefore, showing kindness and empathy to everyone is salient as we might not know what someone else is battling. We all have our demons. When someone loses their smile, they lose their ability to laugh, truly laugh, without wonder or worry. Usually, one does not notice themselves changing because the change is a gradual and imperceptible one. More often than not, we tend to notice this when we meet up with people we have not seen in a long time. This should be enough reason to observe yourself and your thoughts. Begin to think of what made you feel good and what has changed since then. As you work towards getting your smile back, keep in mind that happiness is not something readymade, but is a feeling that comes from within and is dependent on your actions and worldview. It is important to note that every emotion is connected and comes from somewhere and if we take time to search within ourselves we will get to be more emotionally intelligent.

The actions that could help you get your smile back may include;

Avoid procrastinating.

Procrastination only makes one feel bad about them self. keeping up your schedule with greater caution and avoiding piling things up, will make you more organized and less overwhelmed. Nobody is built like you, you design yourself, smile.

Focusing on the results rather than the source of the problem

If things do not go as planned, consciously avoid looking at fixing the blame and focus on fixing the problem. You will feel less stressed and more in control of your situation. It will also make you more approachable. Develop the mind set to look for solutions, and avoid “if only” thinking, since this only keeps you stuck. A loss isn’t a loss it's a lesson, smile.

Being kinder

Do not have the tendency to show indifference to people you’ve rubbed shoulders with. This will only make you miserable, irrespective of whether they’ve noticed it or not. When you consciously resist the urge to be indifferent to them, you will feel more in control of your emotions. A kind gesture has the power to set the tone for your day. Kindness is not restricted to a physical exchange; even a gentle conversation over the phone or a kind email can make you significantly happier. Good morning or evening friend, smile.

Spend time with your loved ones

Make time for people who make you feel loved and appreciated. People who see the best in you. Good times never fade away, smile.

Breaking the negative thought pattern

You feel angry with someone because you associate something negative with him or her. Start consciously associating positive things with them and the negativity will melt away. Of course it will keep on coming back, but the more you counter it with positive thoughts, the less power it will have. So, the next time you are really annoyed with somebody, try remembering a nice thing about him or her. Wave bye to negativity, smile.

Dressing up

No matter how you feel, it will always feel better when you get up and freshen up. Wearing well-fitted clothes, clothes that you like, will make you look better and, therefore, feel better about yourself almost instantly. Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends, smile.

Remembering that everyone is only human, and that includes yourself

Forgiveness contributes greatly to our well-being, fulfilment, and happiness. There is really nobody in the world who hasn’t been hurt or let down by somebody they trusted, or at least wishes they had been treated differently. Everyone, that includes yourself and the people that hurt you, is only standing at one single point in the huge learning curve of life, and our actions spring from what we are exposed to from that particular vantage point. To seriously learn forgiveness as a life skill, spend more time with kids. They are the only people who unerringly practice the art.

Do not take life too seriously

The inner critic is the most active when we need that voice to be appreciative and loving. Instead of spending more time understanding and appreciating ourselves, we indulge in self-bashing, self-abuse, and harsh judgments about ourselves. It takes mindfulness and awareness to turn that around. Take time to do things that give you more scope for “happy-time,” like seeking the company of children, listening to music, dancing, cooking, reading, cleaning - anything that makes you feel like your best self.

KESRA students to benefit from new Psychotherapy Program

2021-08-05T08:01:24+00:00

The Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA) has adopted a comprehensive school guidance and counselling program. The program will provide a solid framework for ensuring that students are well-prepared to meet the academic, social, emotional and career challenges.

The program will support students in meeting academic standards, provide them with a safe and secure environment for learning, reduce dangerous and counterproductive risk-taking behaviours, and enhance their resilience.

The program, which complies with state guidelines and curriculum frameworks, will enable students to acquire personal skills to reach their highest educational potential. Students will now have the ability to successfully manage their lives as healthy, responsible, competent, and productive citizens who respect themselves and others.

A comprehensive school counselling program is an integral component of the total education experience, providing the educational opportunities for intellectual development, effective communication, personal growth, and social responsibility. The school counsellors will work in partnership with students, staff, parents, community members, and employers.

All KESRA students will also have access to a full-time certified counsellor and have a right to participate in the school counselling program. The psychotherapy program is intentionally designed to be developmental and contains activities that are organized and implemented by certified counsellors, lecturers and administrators, and other staff in collaboration with students and parents/guardians.

The program will focus on meeting the student’s needs in four domains; academic, career, mental/ psychological, social/personal domains. The developmental aspect of the school counselling program focuses on attaining results related to skills acquisition, while the remedial aspect of the program ensures the provision of services that respond to the immediate needs and concerns of students.

A significant part of a school counsellor’s job is advocating for students. Advocacy includes enhancing relationships between students and lecturers, especially when a student has had a difficult start to the school year or is struggling to interact positively with a lecturer. Once a relationship is developed between student and counsellor, the counsellor can help lecturers to understand the situation of the student and offer suggestions to promote the students’ success and interest in school. The counsellor can also act as a mediator when issues arise between a student and a lecturer.

The global pandemic has also influenced the mental health of many Kenyans and students are no exemption. Changes in ways of learning, low employment rate, Covid-19 restrictions and trauma that may be caused by direct or indirect infection are some of the many incidences that have affected their stability.

With Mental health being an area of massive concern amongst the Kenyan youth, the newly adopted psychotherapy program, will endow KESRA students with the necessary skills that will help them to approach and cope with mental health challenges such as depression and suicide, anxiety disorders schizophrenia and alcohol and substance abuse. This will in turn lead to the production of wholesome students and better fulfilment of the Institutions values.

By Maryanne Ngugi

KRA Human Resources

Sources;

Archer, J. (1994). Achievement goals as a measure of motivation in university students. Contemporary Educational Psychology

Brackney, B. E. & Karabenick, S. A. (1995). Psychopathology and academic performance: The role of motivation andlearning strategies. Journal of Counseling Psychology

Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Self-efficacy: An essential motive to learn. Contemporary Educational Psychology

Living with Fibromyalgia

2021-05-20T09:50:57+00:00

12th May was Fibromyalgia awareness day and what a perfect opportunity to highlight the condition to raise even more awareness.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia or Fibromyalgia Syndrome is a muscle skeletal disorder characterised by chronic widespread pain and fatigue. The condition may cause other symptoms which can impact day-to-day life. The main symptoms of Fibromyalgia are:

Widespread pain
a heightened pain response to pressure
sleep disturbance and non-restorative sleep
Restless leg syndrome
cognitive impairment
digestive symptoms/irritable bowel syndrome
environmental sensitivities (noise, light or temperature)

Fibromyalgia is a complex condition, and because it involves the nervous system, it can have an impact on virtually every part of the body. Experts believe that pain signals are exaggerated by the brain and nerves, amplifying the sensation of pain you experience. This disordered signal processing leads to several abnormal types of pain. An increase in the degree of pain is known as a fibromyalgia flare up.

Who can get Fibromyalgia?

Anyone can get fibromyalgia, but women are nine times more likely to get fibromyalgia than men.

What causes fibromyalgia?

No one really knows what causes Fibromyalgia. However, in certain instances, it is thought that there may be an environmental trigger for the illness. This trigger may be emotional or physical event such as a car accident or a traumas.

Does Fibromyalgia have a cure?

Fibromyalgia symptoms can be treated and managed but there is no, known cure for the condition. Exercise and diet may also help manage the symptoms.

Why should we be aware of fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia involves the entire body and throws all kinds of things out of control. It can take someone who is educated, ambitious, hardworking person and rob them of their ability to work, exercise or even think clearly. Fibromyalgia is NOT laziness, ‘psychological burnout’, pretentious, whining or malingering. It IS the result of widespread dysfunction in the body and the brain, hard to understand, difficult to treat and without a cure.

The hardest thing for people with fibromyalgia is having to live with it and how the society interprets their symptoms.

Having the support and understanding of people in their life can make it a lot easier for them.

By Karambu Muthaura

Head of Excisable Goods Management System (EGMS) - KRA

KRA RENOVATES PAEDATRIC WARDS TO IMPROVE KENYA’S CHILD HEALTHCARE

2019-07-26T05:22:06+00:00

The United Nations replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the Sustainable Development Goals in 2012 as a bold commitment to finish the good work started by the MDGs. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global strategy to end poverty, protect the earth and ensure that everyone enjoys peace and prosperity. They are a call to action to shift the world onto a more sustainable path. One of the goals is good health. The goal focuses on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all people of all ages. This includes reducing premature deaths due to non-communicable diseases by a third in the year 2030.

In Kenya, the government has made tremendous efforts in addressing persistent health priorities such as maternal and child health, as well as communicable diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives have chosen to focus on child healthcare because children form the foundation of any nation. KRA’s CSR policy heavily invests in the well-being of children through the creation of a cheerful, recuperation-friendly and healthy environment for children in selected health facilities across the country.

In the financial year 2018/2019, KRA initiated five health projects around the country. Earlier in the year, KRA donated a 40ft container to the Kilifi Level 5 Hospital. The container was used to develop a medical facility for diabetes patients in the area to enable them to access treatment services and medication. Previously, patients had to travel 75km to Coast General Hospital to receive treatment. By August 2018, the facility was in use and diabetic patients expressed gratitude for having a clinic of their own within the hospital.

To ensure a healthier environment for children, KRA renovated a number of paediatric wards around the country. This was based on the year’s theme “touching young lives for the future”. At Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital, KRA renovated the paediatric ward through partitioning and fitting of new curtains in the ward. The children, parents, nurses and the hospital administration expressed their delight after learning that KRA does more than the collection of taxes. The ward has a capacity of 30 beds.

In October 2019, during KRA’s Annual Taxpayers Month, the Authority refurbished the Kisumu Country referral Hospital paediatric ward. The project involved a face-lift of the facility’s interior and exterior, renovation of the washrooms, window upgrading, preparing a children’s playground, installation of TV sets for children’s entertainment and installation of curtains in the ward. KRA Board Chairman Ambassador. Francis Muthaura officially launched the facility.

Other health projects undertaken in the previous financial year include the construction of 2.5million shilling wing at Bokole Health Centre in Changamwe, Mombasa. KRA contributed Kshs 1 million towards the project. The new wing will decongest the hospital and house both the general and specialized paediatric clinics.

The long-awaited Kenyatta National Hospital children playground was handed over to the hospital administration in March, 2019. This has been one of the biggest projects that KRA has initiated over the last two years. The playground aims at ensuring that children receiving treatment at the referral hospital have access to recreation.

KRA through its core values of Trustworthy, Competent, Ethical and Helpful will continue these and more initiatives in the new financial year. This will go a long way in building trust with the public as a customer-focused government agency.

By Kwaje Rading’

KRA Wins White Water Rafting Challenge Back-to-Back

2018-08-08T07:52:55+00:00

KRA's team Alpha was the first to touch the finishing line on the banks of River Sagana during the 2018 white water Rafting challenge held last Saturday at Savage Camp, Sagana.

The white water rafting challenge is an annual event organised by Faraja Cancer Support Trust to support the trust?s endeavours in taking care of cancer patients in the country.

The Trust was founded in 2010 with the aim of providing emotional, practical and healing support to anyone affected by cancer. It provides cancer patients and those who take care of them with information, advice, counselling and complementary therapies in order to make their cancer journey a little more manageable.

KRA?s participation in the challenge which attracted scores of corporate bodies, was a way of giving back to the community. Health is one of the pillars in the organisation?s CSR policy whose aim is to promote good healthcare for all people. The CSR activities that KRA has so far participated in have continued to play a fundamental role in changing the way various stakeholders perceive KRA.

Team Alpha maintained its first position for the second time.

KRA's CSR to Refurbish Moi Referral Hospital's Renal Ward

2018-08-08T07:49:25+00:00

KRA has announced plans to adopt the paediatric renal ward at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH).

KRA?s North Rift Regional Coordinator Ms Florence Otory made the announcement while flagging off participants for the Jungle Run in support of children going through renal treatment at the hospital in Eldoret town.

Ms Otory said every year as part of the Taxpayers Month, KRA conducts Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities throughout the country. This year, the main focus of the CSR activities is on children health and environment. The activities are being conducted in all KRA Regions across the country.

Taxpayers are benefitting from a campaign launched by the Central Region to take services closer to them. Members of staff, especially those in Customer Service and iTax, have been moving to remote areas to offer taxpayers basic services such as pin registration and answer their queries on debt and payments.

The initiative has given staff a chance to interact with the taxpayers more closely. Some of the areas that have been benefited from the services are Mweiga town on the outskirts of Nyeri town, Timau near Nanyuki in Laikipia county and Kagio near Kirinyaga.

Through the campaign, many residents are coming out to enquire about the services KRA offers, what they need to do to avoid penalties and also understand best practices when it comes to filing returns for Value Added and turn over tax. The campaign has also facilitated tax collection because taxpayers are voluntarily seeking assistance.

This, in the long-run, will increase tax compliance.

KNH Lauds KRA Initiative to Build Children's Playground

2018-08-08T07:45:47+00:00

Kenyatta National Hospital management could not hide their joy after KRA visited the lead referral hospital in Kenya last Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony of a paediatric playground.

Speaking at the ceremony, KRA Board Chairman, Dr Edward Sambili said the construction of the playground is part of the corporate social responsibility initiatives in this year's Taxpayers' Month. He observed that the initiative is KRA's way of promoting the wellbeing of children and supporting their dreams of becoming future leaders.

Dr Sambili noted that CSR initiatives are among the various avenues KRA is using to reach out to the taxpayers and the society at large to promote voluntary compliance.

Our mission and vision are anchored on the need to come up with facilitative ways which will promote voluntary compliance in tax matters, Dr Sambili said. Over the years, KRA has been on a transformation journey from an enforcement agency to one that builds the trust of taxpayers through facilitation, hence promoting voluntary tax compliance,he added. Mr Sambili further reiterated the Board?s commitment in supporting such initiatives under the Taxpayers' Month. He said this gives KRA an opportunity to communicate what it stands for in terms of core values, mission and vision.

The chairman was accompanied by Board directors Ms Constantine Kandie, Ms Rose Waruhiu, Mr Paul Icharia, Commissioner for Legal Services and Board Coordination Ms Wairimu Ng'ang'a and Marketing and Communication Deputy Commissioner Ms Grace Wandera among others.

In his statement read by Commissioner Ng'ang'a, Commissioner General Mr John Njiraini noted that good health is a critical agenda in the sustainable development goals, hence KRA's focus in the sector during this year's Taxpayers' Month.

This year, KRA made a deliberate decision to participate in the bettering of the health sector through CSR initiatives during the Taxpayers' Month. Health occupies a central place in our development agenda as enshrined in our national blueprint for economic development and social progress - Vision 2030, the CG said in the statement.Good health and wellbeing is one of the vital cogs that make a country's socioeconomic engine functional. Quality health for our children is therefore paramount if this is to be achieved. Therefore, this playground will not only be of great benefit to KNH, but also to the wellbeing of these young citizens.

KNH Board Chairman Mr Mark Kipkemoi expressed the board?s gratitude to KRA for giving back to the society through the construction of the playground. We are very grateful for this gesture of venturing into our sector. Most agencies and organisations shy away from when it comes to giving back to the society,Mr Kipkemoi remarked.

KNH Chief Executive Officer Ms Lily Koros said among the many patients the hospital receives on a daily basis are children whose average number is about 600 to 800. She noted that the playground will, to a large extent, address some of the challenges the hospital has been facing in taking care of the children.

We are very grateful to KRA for visiting us in this special way. This playground will go a long way in improving the treatment and the wellbeing of the ailing children,Ms Koros said. One unique thing about children is that they are able to express themselves when they are playing and from this we can note and monitor their recovery with much ease, she added. Ms Koros further noted that KRA's the gesture will not only touch the KNH fraternity, but also the society at large.

KRA is also set to construct five hand-washing tills in Level Five hospitals across the remaining five regions.