AMPATH Internship

Taken from Joyfulheart.com

For the past week, I’ve been settling into my new home for the month. The place is called Eldoret, and the mission is to interact with as many people and public health concepts as is humanly possible within such a short amount of time. While here, I am participating in an internship with a consortium called AMPATH. To start, I’ll give you a brief overview of what my internship is concerning. AMPATH was originally an acronym for the Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS. It has since developed however, to stand for the Academic Model for Providing Access to Healthcare. Despite what is commonly understood, AMPATH is not an NGO, but rather a consortium of North-American schools, Moi University Medical School, and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (which was only the 2nd public hospital in Kenya), and was founded during President Daniel arap Moi’s era in Eldoret, Kenya. AMPATH serves as the overarching connection between all of these places, but has no employees as it isn’t technically it’s own entity.

In my mission to interact with as many people as possible, I’ve already succeeded in meeting with American medical students, residents, Kenyan outreach coordinators, children, parents, and two amazing people who helped found AMPATH at the very beginning. During this first week, I’ve also had the opportunity to get acquainted with my surroundings, and figure out where I will best fit in for the next three weeks. One of the places that I’ve already visited and felt an instant connection to is called the Amani Shelter (Amani means hope). This place is run by two women and originated as a women’s shelter, but has since turned into a home for children without homes as well. I went with my supervisor and a friend of hers to see how the micro-business that she helped the shelter to start was coming along. Essentially, she donated >30 healthy chickens ready to begin laying to the shelter, as well as laying beds for the chickens, and the initial food for them. The goal is to create a sustainable source of income for the shelter by having the women sell the eggs laid by the chickens. With the money they earn, they can continue to provide for the chickens, and ultimately have leftovers to help with the rest of the cost of the shelter. They also hope to have a rooster soon so that they can begin breeding more chickens, allowing them to eat the ones that are currently providing the eggs, and allowing the cycle to continue and expand.

       From plastic bag,       to plastic yarn,         to plastic purse

Being the only SLU student in Eldoret, I didn’t have much to do over the weekend, so I reached out to the Amani shelter and asked if I could return to help out with anything that they needed, volunteering as I do frequently in the U.S. This visit was one of my most memorable moments in Kenya so far because it really helped something to click for me. One of the mothers told me that they are always so so happy to have visitors, and all of a sudden I had a new perspective. Throughout the whole semester I’ve felt as though people look at me, and because of the color of my skin, assume that I’m there to help in some way, when in reality I’m simply a student. In my hours at this shelter, I was introduced and seen as a visitor, as a friend. Sure in this instance, I had gone with the intent of helping which was much different then my motive for the rest of my activities this semester (to learn), but I was welcomed as one of the family they’ve formed there. With that being said, I was able to do something tangible. The women create bags, from grocery style bags, to beach bags, to pocketbooks. These bags are made 100% from plastic grocery bags, and are crocheted into these more sustainable bags, resulting in benefits for our environment as well as another source of income for the shelter. When I got back to my home, I took all the plastic bags I had and made the yarn from them as I’d been taught at the shelter to bring to them, so that was a great way to wrap up the weekend!

In addition to that experience, at the Moi Teaching and Referral hospital itself, I’ve had many opportunities to entertain/teach some children which are either patients, siblings of patients, or children who’ve been abandoned at the hospital. It never ceases to amaze me the mannerisms of Kenyan children, which I’ve had the opportunity to witness in various settings, but more concentratedly, here. Even in the instances where there is nothing to play with/do, the children do not cry out for attention. It isn’t even necessarily that they find ways to entertain themselves, but rather just find themselves doing nothing, and being okay with that. They are extraordinarily peaceful and respectful. Of course a small part of me would like to believe that this is simply a genetic trait of Kenyans, or perhaps the climate is just conducive to this sort of behavior. But I know it has more to do with the way they’re raised and the fact that they really have no choice, which is truly a double-edged sword. Historically, the reason for having children in many Kenyan communities has been practical - to have more people to help provide for/protect the family. There is therefore, no need or time to coddle the children. The Maasai boys for example, begin herding cows by themselves as early as 6 years old!! In America, at 6 years old, children are still crying when they have to let go of their mom’s hand for school. The independence and resilience of these children inspires me beyond belief. While the fact that they are able to hold themselves in such a mature manner is something to aspire for, the circumstances leading to this result have to be considered as well. As I’ve already mentioned, some of the children that I’m interacting with have been abandoned at the hospital, others have fallen into boiling oil, burning almost their entire bodies, spending sometimes years in the hospital waiting to heal. If their independence comes from factors like these, is it really worth the cost? But then again, do all of these factors play a role in why Kenya is among the fastest growing economies in sub-saharan Africa (according to the world bank)? Because the upbringing of Kenya’s children lends to perseverance, and ultimately great success? There is no easy answer, all I know for sure is that what I gain from this experience will be far beyond the scope of what I came to AMPATH to learn.

Although from this internship, it’s certain that I will gain a better understanding of the way global and public health functions, I believe that even more importantly, I will glean something so vitally important to human nature. When you have to be brave and strong - you are. When you have to be independent - you are. When you have to be idle for hours on end - you do so without complaining. These children are the epitome of these traits, and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to spend time with them, and to learn about their dreams and goals, and know that even though all of the odds are against them, if anyone can make it happen, it is these children. My only hope is that I will be able to inspire those that I’m working with, even an inkling of the amount that they are inspiring me.

More to come on the outreach programs that I will have an opportunity to participate in the next week!
-Beca