(Penned by Mary Wambui Moehlmann, Impact in Health’s Founder and CEO)

The vision that underpins Impact in Health emerged in the rural suburbs of my hometown: Naivasha, in Nakuru country, Kenya. While I was still a young child, my mother - Dorcas Wanjiru Wachira – demonstrated how to make positive social impact through direct action, at the community level. There were essentially three ‘arms’ to her philanthropic initiative:

• First, my mother established a ‘Safe House’ on our family homestead (she called it: the “Community Recovery Centre Africa”) - to support vulnerable children from our local area with shelter, education, stability, and mentorship. Of the 100+ young people that have since been reached, many advanced to achieve professional and entrepreneur status. 

• Later, after my father passed away, my mother identified another unmet need: she observed that widows in the community would lose land, income, and dignity in the aftermath of their spouse’s passing. In response, she created the Tuinue Dada (“Lift a Sister”) sisterhood – to enable women to come together to heal, organize, and rebuild. Through this group, countless women have since launched small businesses, invested in shared resources, and rebuilt their livelihoods with dignity and solidarity. 

• Lastly – to secure the long-term economic viability, and environmental sustainability, of her work, my mother future-proofed the Safe House with solar power and green farming, creating a self-sustaining model to feed the children, support the community, and generate income. 

 

My decision to found Impact in Health was deeply inspired by the energy and values of my mother. Her work demonstrates a simple truth: communities are not waiting for solutions—they are already creating them. Her leadership taught me that real change is not about bringing answers, but about creating space. Impact is built with communities, not for them. These are the perspectives that define the heart of Impact in Health.

​