January 2014 course summary

Our study of health care in Kenya was accomplished primarily through service learning, but also included visits to hospitals and an occasional lecture. The first three days were spent in Nairobi visiting cultural and historical sites, and learning about a high-tech telemedicine project being conducted by Cisco. Petting elephants and feeding giraffes (mouth-to-mouth) was entertaining, but we were anxious to meet the children at the Open Arms (OA) village where we stayed the majority of our time in Kenya.

The students did a great job teaching several health topics to the Open Arms Kenyan staff and the moms whose children were enrolled in the OA feeding program at the Kambi Teso slum. Topics included oral hygiene, hand washing, nutrition, dehydration/rehydration, and sexual health. The feeding program moms were especially grateful for the teachings.

We provided medical clinics at Kambi Teso and the Remand (juvenile detention) Centre in Eldoret; plus, a two-day clinic in Pemwai. More than 800 patients received medical care! We were thankful to have Suzanne Spaulding, RN (Portland, Oregon) join us for our medical clinic days.  

Dr. Kiptoon was a gracious host for our three days at the Moi University School of Medicine. He allowed us to join his medical students on ward rounds in the pediatric wing, arranged our meeting with the coordinator of the COBES program and a tour of Moi Referral and Teaching Hospital, and introduced Professor Michael Leahy’s lecture on global health information at grand rounds. The hospital was cleaner and less crowded than our last Jan term visit in 2011, but there were many beds with more than one occupant.

Our final week in Kenya was focused on work projects and a lecture by Prof. Tara Lepp on African Traditional Herbal Medicine. The OA village is 52 acres and home to 108+ children, so there is always a lot of work that needs to be done. Many of our students baked cakes for the 8^th grade Thanksgiving celebration (graduation) that happened the day after we left the village. It took three days to bake eight cakes. Baking at 7000 feet altitude was challenging, but the final product was a delicious success.

Our students quickly bonded with the OA children at the village. Many of the Kenyan children needed financial sponsors, and all nine of the Linfield students (along with their parents or grandparents) made commitments to sponsor one or more children. The Linfield football team will be sponsoring one of the older boys. It was a tearful last night at the village taking pictures of the Linfield students with their sponsor children.