What inspired you to travel abroad?
What inspired me to go abroad was my love for traveling, my passion for helping people, and the opportunity to learn medicine abroad. Ever since I was little I have loved to travel and I found that I have a passion for helping others after my mission trip to Haiti in 2015. After my mission trip, I felt that I would be able to do more to help if I was able to use my medical knowledge. This is when I started to look online for trips where I would be able to travel abroad while being able to learn and hopefully help people.
Why did you choose International Medical Aid?
When I began looking for programs online I was looking for a program that would let me do some kind of internship abroad, where I could learn about medicine from a different point of view than what I had been taught. When I found International Medical Aid, they clicked everything on the checklist that I had. It seemed like such a once in a lifetime opportunity for a chance to go and live in Africa and learn medicine from the doctors there. The reviews online made the program seem so fun and also very safe.
What was your favorite part about Mombasa, Kenya?
There were so many amazing parts about being in Africa, and Mombasa especially. Mombasa was such a great place to stay because it was such an urban city with so many different things to do. After working at the hospital, it was incredible to be able to walk five minutes and be able to lay on a white sand beach for the rest of the day. And if we didn’t want to go to the beach, we could choose to go to the mall or some of the local restaurants around.
Hannah on her last day at Coast General in Kenya
What made your experience abroad extraordinary?
What made my experience abroad so extraordinary was my time spent at Provincial Coast General Hospital. My time in the hospital was unmatched because of the amazing hospital staff and how much they taught me. I was able to do four different rotations in the hospital and in each rotation I was able to learn so much from each doctor and nurse. It did take some time for some of the doctors to warm up to interns, but once you showed them how much you wanted to learn, they became committed to your learning and would explain what they were doing and the entire diagnostic procedure.
Every day I would come home from the hospital with pages of notes on what I had learned that day and how to apply it. Although some days the hospital could be mentally challenging because of the cultural differences, it was those differences that helped me to learn so much more than I ever thought possible.
How did the local program staff support you throughout your program?
The local staff was amazing throughout the entire trip. Bella and Phares were always there for any of the interns if they needed something and would gladly set up events for us. The housekeeper, Rahema, was another amazing staff member who would make sure the house was running smoothly and was someone who I loved coming home and talking to after my day at the hospital. Wilson the chef was another staff member who was constantly looking out for the interns and there for any meal requests, and would teach the interns how to make local Kenyan food.
My two other favorite staff members were our drivers, Javon and Muhammud. Our drivers were the nicest people and always there for us with a smile on their face. An example of how our drivers went out of their way for us is that I came out of the hospital one day and told Muhammud that some nurses had given me this really good bread called Mahamry and that I was wondering where to find it. Muhammud told me he knew a place and that he would tell me the next day. The following day Muhammud picked our group up at the hospital and with him he had twenty four pieces of Mahamry bread that his wife had gotten fresh for our group that morning. This story is just to show the small things that this staff would do to make our trip so amazing.
What's one thing you wish you would have done differently during your time abroad?
The only thing that I would have done different in my time abroad was to stay a month longer. I fell in love with Kenya and I was having such an amazing time there that when it came time to leave I felt that I wasn’t ready. Although I had spent over a month living in Kenya, I knew that there was still so much to learn and so much more to do. I had made so many close friends and had become close with different staff in the hospital so when I left it made it a tough goodbye.
Describe what a typical day in your life abroad looked like.
A typical day was waking up at about 7:00 am and going downstairs to eat breakfast. For breakfast, there would be a wide array of food to eat before the journey to the hospital. The vans would come in different groups to pick everyone up, depending on what your rotation in the hospital was. The drive to the hospital was around fifteen minutes and then you would spend around five hours at the hospital in your rotation. After you were done with your rotation in the hospital, the vans would pick you back up at the front of the hospital and take you home to have lunch. Chef Wilson always had lunch waiting for all the hungry interns and during lunch is when everyone would talk about how their day in the hospital went and if they saw anything cool.
Most people would take a shower after the hospital and put their scrubs in the wash. After this, most people would hang out in the living room either journaling, watching Netflix, or reading. This is when people would decide if they wanted to walk to the beach or go and hang out at the amazing restaurants in the mall. Wherever people went they usually came back to eat Chef Wilson’s dinner and then most nights people would go out to a local restaurant to get some dessert, usually the place of choice was Java House. At the end of the night there would usually be a movie playing in the living room or people would be playing some kind of game together and then by eleven most people would go to bed.
What did you enjoy doing in your free time abroad?
During my free time I enjoyed going to all the beaches nearby with my fellow intern friends. I also liked going out to the mall and going to the local restaurants. Being a college soccer player, I liked to play soccer outside in the driveway, and usually after 5 minutes I would have random locals and interns coming to join my game and joining everyone together. Our favorite restaurant to go to as interns was one recommended to us by one of the doctors in the hospital. It was called Mubins and it served traditional Arabic and African food. We actually started going there so much that we ended up taking a picture with the owners because we loved it so much. All of the interns loved being in the local Kenyan culture and we would go out to the bars at night in town and listen to local bands and dance.
What type of accommodation did you have? What did you like best about it?
The accommodation we had far exceeded my expectations coming in. The community we were in felt very safe and in order to get into where we were staying you needed to get past one of our guards, George, who always gave each intern a hug as we came in the door. There were two houses that the interns stayed in and both were set up pretty similar. Both houses had wifi and a TV in the living room. All of the rooms had an air conditioner and bug nets around the beds.
Per room, there were usually around three to four people and each room had its own bathroom with a shower and a toilet. The part I liked best about the house was the long dining room table where everyone would sit for meals; this was a place where we would play games and eat and share stories. It really made the house feel like a home to everyone and was the place where each new intern would come and join the table and be forced into a conversation with whoever they sat next to.
What is one thing every future participant should know about International Medical Aid before their program begins?
Something the participant should know is that how their time in Kenya goes is entirely up to them. In order to make the most of your time in Kenya and get the most out of everything, you must come out with an open mind and want to be there. How much you learn in Kenya is all based on how much you want to learn from the doctors, because if you don’t go up and talk to the doctors they won’t be able to teach you as easily. You have to want to go out of your room after a long day in the hospital because that’s when you’ll make all the memories with your fellow interns in the amazing Kenyan culture.
Would you recommend International Medical Aid to others? Why?
I would 100% recommend this program to anyone who is looking for an incredible opportunity to travel overseas, make new friends, live in a different culture, and learn a completely different way of doing modern medicine. This program offers an experience of a lifetime and something that will definitely change the way the person thinks about the way that medicine is practiced in their own country.
What do you feel the biggest benefit of traveling abroad is?
There are many benefits of traveling abroad, but I would say the main benefit of traveling abroad would be experiencing different cultures and immersing yourself in a place that is completely different than your own. I think that it is extremely important that everyone has a chance to travel to places and be able to live in a place that has different food, customs, and traditions. Being able to experience these things yourself means that you will have a better understanding of how different people live and have a new appreciation for a place that is unlike your own home.
Now that you're home, how has your time abroad impacted your life?
My time abroad was very meaningful to me because I was able to completely see an entirely different side of medicine and diagnostic process. I was able to see so many different sides of the hospital and become close with many of the doctors. This experience has helped me to be more creative in the way that I think about how to treat a patient and diagnose them. It was so amazing to live in a totally different culture. I came to love my time in Kenya and I am so grateful for what I learned. Kenya has made an impact on me by letting me see how the medical system works in a developing country and has made me a more compassionate person and better medical professional.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel for me means that you get something worthwhile out of your trip. For example, it could be eating a new food, learning the local language, or being immersed in the culture of the place you're visiting. All of these examples will give you a better insight into how different people all around the world live and maybe you'll end up adopting some of their lifestyle into yours.
