Every person is valuable
Improvement of health of vulnerable people
Our Project Collaborations
Health Yetu Foundation collaborates with existing organizations
Sharing instead of giving
Health Yetu Foundation originated from the wish to give and to pass on. The expression Health Yetu is partly Swahili for “Our Health”. A Swahili name was chosen because the origin of the foundation has it’s roots in Kenya. Health Yetu aims to realize an enterprising way to increase accessibility to health care for vulnerable people and communities. Besides financial funds, and necessary medical equipment, the members of the foundation invest their time to be involved in processes of the projects, targeting for improved results and success. Health Yetu’s key objective is to share time, money, knowledge and means for now and in the future.
Ambassadors & Partners of The Health Yetu Foundation
Health Yetu Foundation aims to collaborate together with established organizations and companies in Kenya and around the world to achieve a sustainable impact on health care improvement. These organizations are led and shaped by several unique individuals. Proven specialists in their own occupation, with decades of experience in their field.
They are our proud ambassadors and partners.
About the Health Yetu Foundation
Objective of the Health Yetu Foundation
Health Yetu Foundation promotes the physical and mental health of fragile communities in remote areas. The foundation funds medical expeditions in remote areas collaborating with existing organizations. Adding our support to the outreach programs, the foundation scales up effectiveness and productivity of our partner organizations. The board is actively involved and values cooperation and the exchange of knowledge.
Policy Plan
Health Yetu Foundation supports existing organizations in remote areas and provides funding for medical equipment, medical training, medication and hospital referrals. The board is actively involved in the activities that are supported and, in addition to financial support, emphasizes participation. The board itself wishes to make an active contribution to the projects and/or organizations that are supported. Third parties are activated to participate through donations and deployment of expertise. The financial resources come from private capital, funds will also be raised and the board will appeal to the voluntary commitment of their network. The board members see collaboration with enterprising, professional charities and other social parties as an important part of achieving the objective.
Funding
Income is generated from donations and fundraising. Various forms of fundraising are used to generate income. The board wishes to actively involve third parties as donors.
The foundation is non-profit and therefore does not hold more capital than is reasonably necessary for the continuity of the activities for the purpose. The members of the board are entitled to reimbursement of the expenses incurred by them while performing their duties. No salary can be awarded to the members of the board. The foundation has no additional fixed costs.
Team & Board
Who are we?
Adrienne Rouleau - Co-Founder & Chairman to the Board
Adrienne Rouleau was born in Paris on October 27, 1970 and works as a geriatric specialist.
From a young age she knew 2 things for sure. She wanted to be a mother and a doctor in Africa. Africa had to wait a while, but since 2018 she has been working there as a volunteer and involved in several projects concerning medical care for vulnerable people in Eastern Africa.
Doeke Hekstra - Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Doeke Hekstra was born on June 12, 1968 in (Wonji) Ethiopia. He lived most of his childhood in Kenya. In the early 1990s he started as an independent entrepreneur. He has now been the owner of Hekstra Real Estate for 25 years; real estate development, management and advisory.
He has great affinity with East Africa and has been involved in the issue of the human wildlife conflict for a long time. With his many contacts in Kenya, he knows how to connect professional parties to the projects.
"The greatest wealth is health"
Samuel van Ooijen - Managing Director
Samuel van Ooijen (23) is a Bio-Pharmaceutical MSc student at the University of Leiden. He has a high affinity with health care and conservation. The human-wildlife conflict is what drives him in his work for the foundation;
“The only way to preserve our natural world is to regulate the number of people being born, through family planning. Raising the standard of living through healthcare and education opens up the possibility for families to rely less on the quantity of children and more on the quality of life per child. ”
During his studies he works for the Eurotransplant International Foundation and he has completed conservation courses in Marakele National Park in South Africa.
Simen van den Berg - Co-Medical Director
Simen van den Berg (24) is currently doing the internships of his MSc of medical sciences. Also, he recently finished a field guiding course at Marakele National Park, South Africa. Bringing healthcare to remote areas would improve the quality of life of the population there and would thereby also help with the human wild-life conflict that we are currently facing. This combination of conservation and healthcare is his drive to work for the Health Yetu Foundation.
Simen wants to stimulate sustainable knowledge exchange by mobilizing and sending Dutch doctors along with the outreaches, and organize training of medical personnel that work in remote areas.
Besides his study, he has been working as an Allocation Officer at the Eurotransplant International Foundation and he is on the committee of the Rapenburg Race foundation, a foundation that organizes city swims to raise money for paraplegia research.
Together with Sytse Oudkerk, he is part of a strong network of Dutch doctors from which the doctors will be mobilized for volunteering.
Merel Hazewinkel - Co-Medical Director
Merel Hazewinkel (25) is the newly appointed Co-Medical Director of the Health Yetu Foundation. She is currently doing her medical internships at Leiden University and she is a PhD candidate at the plastic surgery department, Erasmus MC Rotterdam.
Since the start of her medical career, her goal is to share medical knowledge in remote areas with less accessibility to health care and to contribute to society as a doctor. As a co-medical director of the Health Yetu Foundation, she will stimulate Dutch doctors to help in the process of providing medical care and education to vulnerable communities.
Anish Harania - Kenya Coordinator
Anish Harania is Kenyan born and based in Nairobi, Kenya. He studied Business Studies at the London School of Accountancy. Besides his work for the Health Yetu Foundation he is a renowned entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience and managing director of several self-founded companies in service, trading and the manufacturing sector
Currently he is the Managing Director of Blend Africa Limited; blenders, roasters and exporters of Kenyan Arabica coffee.
He enjoys travelling and sports.
Sytse Oudkerk - Medical Advisor
Sytse Oudkerk was born on the 24th of December 1983 in Leiden, the Netherlands. He studied Applied Physics and Medicine. He received his medical degree in September 2011 and is currently working as an interventional radiologist at the Dutch Cancer Institute. From 2008 till 2011 he also worked as a consultant for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
The African continent has drawn his attention for years. The first country he visited was Kenya in 2001. Over the last 2 decades has been to over 10 different countries on this overwhelming continent. Through his medical network, healthcare business experience and his medical skills he will support and help the Health Yetu Foundation to keep the current projects running and get upcoming plans off the ground.
Bastienne de Jonghe - Secretary & Recruitment Advisor
Bastienne de Jonghe was born in Amsterdam on July 24, 1998. She studies medicine in Amsterdam and is currently doing her medical internships. She has great affinity with emerging healthcare in Africa.
Media Coverage
Health Yetu Foundation in de media
