Pole! Pangusa: What Kenya Taught Me About Medicine, Equity, and Human Connection

From the moment I stepped out of the Mombasa International Airport, I was kindly greeted by IMA staff. The hospitality and warm welcome far exceeded my expectations. When I arrived at the residence, the mentors insisted on helping me carry my bags and accommodating any concern or request I may have. After settling in my room, I went to meet the other interns in my cohort. On my way to the living area, I ended up meeting Kate Page, an intern from a previous cohort, as she was packing up to head back home after two months. She welcomed me, and explained how deeply moving and powerful this trip was for her. Talking about leaving and how moving this experience was literally brought her to tears. I went into this trip full of worry that there would be complications or difficulties with travel or interactions with staff or patients. Although I hadn’t even set foot in the hospital yet, this moment with Kate affirmed that I made the right choice coming here. The IMA staff, mentors, chef and cooking staff, locals, patients, and medical personnel at CGTRH truly had such a profound impact on my experience, my perspectives on healthcare, and my life more generally. The mentors encouraged feedback, learning, and reflection everyday and I am so grateful for that. The staff at CGTRH gave me so much insight into healthcare and daily life in Kenya. I discovered ways where creativity and adaptation can bypass a limited resource and quite literally save a life. In the Adult A&E, I watched as doctors, nurses, and students bounced around to try and balance the chaos. At times, it felt as if I was aboard a sinking ship, and my first day here I hated feeling so helpless just watching people suffer. As the week progressed, I learned new ways that I can support the medical staff and patients. I also spent time in the Children’s A&E where I witnessed more heartbreaking cases, but also perseverance and passion from both patients, families, and the doctors and nurses that worked there. The following weeks I volunteered in the NBU where I found so much purpose in helping care for new life. I also spent time in the L&D unit, Surgery Department, and ICU where I saw successful births, positive surgical outcomes, and children who were given another chance at life thanks to the neuro and cardio clinics orchestrated by physicians as part of Doctors Without Borders Program. Seeing the tangible impact these people had on others further deepened my desire to one day participate in a program abroad like this. In these units, I also experienced several moments of grief and hardship. I did CPR on an elderly patient nearing the end of life and then that same night helped with the resuscitation of a newborn. While both patients did not have the outcomes we hoped for, the staff leaned on each other and their religious beliefs to move forward. The positive perspectives of these medical professionals blew me away despite the incredible need for assistance in staffing and resources, and further helped with the immense growth I experienced while I was here. My eyes have been open to a new world, a new culture, a new way of life, a new healthcare system, and a new reality that patients typically face living here. I am forever grateful for these experiences and will be sure to bring with me all that I have learned in Kenya into my journey to medicine.