Evans Muriu, Kuna Vijana and Wanadamu founder
Donating blood is important for all those who are capable and thus the importance of organizations such as Wanadamu. Wanadamu is a swahili word which means human beings, but has been broken down to ‘Wana‘ meaning ‘they have’ and ‘Damu’ meaning ‘blood’. You’ve probably heard of them and if you haven’t then you are in the right place.
Wanadamu was set up by Kuna Vijana and has been around for two years now. Coincidentally, on the 4th of July they shall be celebrating their 2nd anniversary. Happy birthday in advance!! It started as a thought. The thought that translated into a tweet. The tweet then grew into the idea. The idea that we are able to save lives if we put a little more effort into it. The idea has developed to an online database that allows volunteers to register as blood donors. Wanadamu aims to reduce the number of people who die as a result of not accessing any or enough blood to 0. They began manual registration in October 2011, with their first recruitment venues being a Wamathai Poetry event at MJ centre and from then onwards the database has grown to over 15,000 members.
The MJ centre continues to help them by donating space and they even managed to recruit Safaricom staff to the database. They also got to spread word by social media campaigns and posting information on various blogs such as BAKE, Up Nairobi, Ni Sisi, KenyanMom, Reflections and deflections blog, Mwirigi, Wamathai, AKenyanGirl, and KevDaNative
Robert donates blood
When someone is in urgent need of blood, a request on Wanadamu through the contact form enables the facilitators to search for the right blood group, get in touch with willing donors, make a request on behalf of the patient, and direct the willing donors to the right hospital or facility. There are many people willing to donate blood and having an online database allows people to meet the unpredictability of blood requests and the need for blood donations in time. In addition to that, one can track actual status of an appeal via the website.
For those who would like to donate blood but never know when or where, the online form on Wanadamu enables you to register as a blood donor candidate. This does not automatically require you to donate blood. Rather, your information is stored in a private database, whereby should a request for blood donation matching yours be made through Wanadamu you will be contacted, and directed to the facility or hospital requiring your blood type.
You can also text your Name and Blood Group to +254737712509. Alternatively, you can call +254 20 2334318 and leave your Name, Cell Phone Number and Blood Group or drop them a line at info@wanadamu.net. Their Twitter and Facebook accounts are also available as channels of contact.
Any person who is healthy, above 18 years, above 50kg and not under medication can donate blood.