Health Educator Supports Struggling Community
By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Newsletter Editor
Across her community, Jane Kimani is the bridge between traditional African culture and modern-day life in America. Many who have recently arrived in the U.S. encounter challenges, especially in the areas of unaddressed trauma, gender roles, peer expectations, substance use, and coping with the death of loved ones.
Kimani is the Executive Director of UHAI for Health in Worcester. UHAI’s mission is to empower members of the African community to be healthy and self-sufficient through outreach, advocacy, prevention, and support services.
Born in Kenya, Kimani immigrated to the U.S. 28 years ago as an international student. She is a Community Health Education Specialist with an associate’s degree from Quincy College as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees from Worcester State University.
Cultural Challenges
“I am a health educator by profession,” Kimani begins. “I recently went back to school for addiction counseling. The reason I am interested in that field is because we are losing so many people in the community to substance use disorder. Coming here from Africa, we are so far from home, and some people are not able to adjust. It takes a lot to integrate, there are a lot of changes, and some cannot adapt – especially men.”
“We have people in our community from all across Africa, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and more,” Kimani says. “The language barrier is huge, even more so for refugees than for immigrants. Refugees come here because there is war in their country. They arrive with nothing, except for having experienced a lot of trauma.”
“Many of them saw their children or parents get killed while they were watching, and they carry that trauma. Regardless, the community is not supportive. They might get into a house, but nobody gives them an orientation.”
Stifling Confusion
“We come from a very patriarchal society, where the men are the providers and the head of the household. Coming here, they find women working, some making more money than men. That can be very confusing, causing some men to question their role. If the woman is making more money than the man, she is perceived as having more power. Some are not able to cope with that very well.”
“Because of this, we find a lot of men turning to substances. They may start with alcohol and graduate to harder drugs. This can result in them separating from their family, and from there, we end up losing some of them.”
“You don’t find a lot of men seeking help because they grew up being told, ‘Be strong, men do not cry, they fall down, and they rise up.’ So, when they come here and fall, they don’t want to admit it.”
Loss and Grief Support
Cultural distinctions become particularly clear when an African family experiences the loss of a loved one, either to substance use or other causes. “The community is very religious,” Kimani explains. “Death is coped with through prayers, and if someone dies, you find people from the church and community going to their home and condoling with the family. But, after the burial, that’s it. There is no understanding of the stages of grief and that grief can take a while.”
“Once the community support is gone, what happens to the family?” Kimani asks. “We are there having prayers for a week or two, but after that, we are gone, and the family is left to themselves. That’s why a lot of people are unable to process their grief, because they are briefly surrounded, every day, by others who are singing, praying, and contributing money and then it all goes away.”
“There is a lot of money contributed towards funerals, because sometimes the body is shipped back to Africa for burial. But we don’t go back to check on the family, to check on the kids who are left behind, because that is how we were raised. A lot of people in the community don’t utilize therapy or support groups during these times.”
Community Outreach
“When I reach out to families who have lost a loved one to substance use, I usually find them in very bad shape,” Kimani says. “I support them, talk with them, and keep visiting them. There is so much stigma towards substance use. A lot of families who have a loved one die from substance use or suicide do not want to talk about it. They will say the person died of a short illness, even though people in the community know otherwise. A few families have come out and told me their loved one died from overdose or suicide. We are working to remove the stigma. It is slow-going but we are making progress.”
Kimani explains how overdose stigma overlaps onto mental health and how her organization is working to address the issue. “One way we do this is by normalizing mental health through education. We bring people in who have struggled with mental health to speak to the community about how they were diagnosed with a certain condition, how they receive medication and are able to function normally. That is really helping people.”
Recovery and Stigma
“We recently held a health fair, and we had two community members present who are in recovery. They spoke about their journeys, where they are now, how their substance use started, and how they began their recovery. That was the highlight of the whole event. It was a big breakthrough, and they were very proud of themselves. People from the community were like, ‘Wow, we can’t believe they are talking about this.’”
“The most important part is we don’t want to focus on what they were using; we want to hear what got them out of it. We want to hear how they are sustaining recovery now that they are in the maintenance stage. Also, in one group, we structured it with questions that highlighted what stigma looked like. I asked, ‘Can you relate one moment when you felt stigmatized by your own community?’ One woman talked about self-harm – how she would cut her wrist. One of her family members who is a nurse commented, ‘Why are you cutting yourself? That is for white girls.’”
“One of the gentlemen who was in recovery for ten years mentioned that when he was homeless, he would see his own friends roll up their car windows to avoid talking to him. Even if he was asking for a bottle of water or for money to buy food, they would not respond. As a community, why are we not helping these people when they are alive, but when they die, we can quickly contribute money for their funeral expenses?”
Kimani is quick to point out that when people in the community avoid others who are struggling, they are not necessarily afraid of being looked upon poorly by their peers. Rather, they are unable to understand how someone who has come to the U.S. could squander their chances at success. “It is a struggle to come here,” she says. “The American Embassy is very resistant to granting visas. When you get here, it is an opportunity and people wonder how someone could simply throw it away. They don’t see the struggle. All they see is someone who wants to mess up their life. Some say, ‘I wish that visa was given to someone else.’”
Cross-Generational Struggles
“The struggle to adjust culturally is not unique to adult men, however. “It is across the board,” Kimani says. “It can be a high school kid who has come to America, they have a thick accent, they must learn a new language and culture, and they get bullied at school. They feel that they don’t have a seat at the American table nor at the African table. They are stuck in between and feel like they don’t belong anywhere. It is like they are a misfit generation because their parents have one foot here and one foot in Africa.”
“They have anxiety and one of their friends will tell them they need to vape or smoke a blunt to feel better and the substance use escalates from there.”
For people in the African community who are struggling to adjust culturally, UHAI for Health offers a path forward. “We do a lot of referrals,” Kimani says. “Depending on what is going on in their lives, we can refer them to a therapist. We can invite them to our groups. We have a group for men, a group for families, and we work with seniors by matching them with volunteers who can check up on them to prevent isolation.”
Looking forward to scaling her efforts and those of UHAI for Health as a whole, Kimani cites a distinct set of immediate needs. “We really need programs that are sustainable. The biggest challenge is the funding. This would allow us to hire a counselor and a therapist for people who are grieving – someone to visit with them often.”
UHAI for Health will host its annual fundraiser, Stop the Stigma, on April 26, 2025. If you are interested in donating, please stay tuned to this newsletter for updates.