A Journey to Kenya
Fred Neis - Kansas City,MO
My journey to Kenya began with a random moment while talking with Jeff Solheim in early 2007. He had recently been approached to send a team and was assembling the charter members. I had told myself for years that I should find the opportunity to join a medical mission team. It would be my chance to serve and what I learned later was my opportunity to receive more than I could give.
In November of 2007, eleven of us represented Project Helping Hands on the first mission to a small village in Kenya called Oyugis. To get there, it took months of planning. We gathered supplies, raised money, talked via email, and ensured we had the documents and immunizations necessary to get into the country. It was an experience of a lifetime and jumpstarted my passion to continue.
On my next mission I was chosen to lead the team. We were a team of twenty one from all across the U.S. From a recent high school graduate to a nurse practitioner, paramedics, nurses, social worker, radiology tech, and BSN students.
We met in Amsterdam. Our first chance to meet each other face-to-face. After a brief orientation we hopped on our next flight that would launch us in to two weeks of unique experiences, long term friendships, and chances to help others and in return give us a chance to grow.
When we landed in Nairobi it was time to go to work. And work we did. We were met by Patrick Murunga and his family at the airport and transported to their church. After an evening together in Nairobi we set out via van for a six hour ride to Oyugis. The highway conditions are more akin to off-road conditions. Pot holes the size of small cars. Yet the views through the Rift Valley were worth the roads. While I had envisioned Africa to be desert with the rare tree, the area around Oyugis is lush green with hills. Similar to Portland, Oregon.
Unlike the accommodations for our PHH teammates in Bolivia we stay in a hotel in Oyugis. There is running water for showers (usually cold), electricity, and a bed already dressed with mosquito netting. I’m able to sample the freshest mangos and pineapples I could imagine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Our first clinic is a 5 kilometer one-way walk each day to a school outside the village. We walk past homes, corn fields, wandering livestock, and many people welcoming us with an excited “Jambo”. The clinic accepts anyone who would like to be seen. People walk for hours to have a chance to be evaluated. Truly inspiring when you think about the fact many of us would choose to drive our cars 3 blocks away for our morning cup of coffee. We have an eye glass exam station, general exam areas, a pharmacy, and the ever important intake tent that controls the tempo of our day. Every team member is busy. Care is rendered in buildings, mud huts, and in the fields. Each day a team member or two will make house calls in the surrounding area. Our patients are as young as a day to well in to their 90s+. We provide care for patients with malaria, typhoid, abdominal pain, back pain, ring worm, blurry vision, dental pain, burns, and cancer.
The team was blessed to have a surgeon, Michael Johnson, from Nairobi to join us (and replenish our supplies) and Gideon a dentist from a neighboring village near Homa Bay. They gave us guidance on culture and medical care specific to the area. Our final two days of clinic were in Gideon’s village. A ‘thank you’ for his contribution to the mission.
Everyone who is seen thanks us with “Asante Sana”. They are genuinely thankful for the small acts of care we can provide. It is a moment for each of us as caregivers to recharge ourselves and be reminded of the reasons we found our passion in providing healthcare.
There is no hesitation if I’m asked “would I go again?” I’m planning a return for 2011. By the end of my first trip I learned more about myself and what really is now important to me moving forward in my life. ‘Hakuna Matata’ should be a driving force in our lives. Participating not only is a chance to provide medical care in third worlds it is also a chance to bring cultures together in this global community. Now medical mission trips are a part of my life.