April 5-11 is World Health Worker Week. We are proud to partner with governments to support community health workers who work every day to improve and save lives. This week we’ll share and celebrate their stories.

For the residents of the remote villages around Osieko, on the shores of Lake Victoria, timing is everything.

Surrounded by water and accessible only via a circuitous boat ride through the towering papyrus reeds, these tiny settlements do sometimes have access to health clinics—but only during weekdays. If a child falls ill over the weekend or a woman goes into labor at night, reaching a doctor can mean a long and expensive journey over a lake with unpredictable waters.

“At night you just hire a boat…without that there is nowhere you can go,” explains Milliana Okumu, a local farmer and mother of four. “You wake someone up at night, you buy fuel, and of course the driver will want to be paid for taking you. If you leave here at 9 pm you might get to Osieko at 11 pm.” That’s if the water’s not too choppy. From there it’s a ten-kilometer motorbike ride to the nearest hospital.