Kenya- From a student nurse's perspective

Hey!

My name is Rianne Carragher, and I am a fourth year nursing student from UPEI, currently doing a summer internship in a small town called Kiirua, located in Kenya, Africa. There are four interns completing this placement, and are all from the same nursing class at UPEI. We arrived in Kenya on June 28th, and are flying out of Nairobi on September 11th.

The experience so far has been phenomenal, and we have learned so much about nursing with limited resources and technology. We are doing our placement at St. Theresa’s Mission Hospital, and staying at a compound on the hospital’s grounds. The people here are so welcoming, and continue to make an effort to make us feel at home and comfortable each day.

It is amazing to see the role of a nurse in a country half way across the world from Canada, and even more amazing, is the similarities they possess. Nursing in Kenya is focused primarily on effective communication, caring, empathizing, being genuine, being competent in your skills- all the same qualities that one must have while nursing in Canada.

We are working five-day weeks, and rotating throughout different areas of the hospital. Mondays through Wednesdays, we are right on the hospital grounds, and working on a maternity ward, medical surgical ward, or in a maternal clinic, and when the opportunity arises, we attend surgeries. Thursdays, we all head out on HIV/AIDS outreach with a Registered Nurse from the hospital, as well as a client here that is HIV positive. During these Thursdays, we go to different communities- some areas with a lot of poverty- and go door to door and educate families about HIV/AIDS. We talk about how it is transmitted, treatment options, and medical expenses. Many times it is difficult for us to communicate with the residents, as they mostly speak Ki Swahili, or another mother tongue, but being there to witness the education between the nurse, client, and residents is amazing as it is. It is unbelievable how little people know about the disease- especially when many of them are potentially HIV positive, and how prevalent the illness is in this country. Fridays we finish off by going to a Children’s Home with an attendance of over 80 children ranging from ages 0-5. After 5 years old, they are sent back into the community with the hopes that they will find someone to live with or take care of them. We mostly work with the infants, and help to bathe, feed, and play with them- the home is under-staffed, and although playing with them is no chore for us, it is a big help to the staff, so that they can have a small break for the day.


Kim Critchley, the dean of nursing at UPEI, and Kevin Teather, a biology professor at UPEI, flew into Nairobi with us at the beginning of our journey. We all had a lot of fun together and were able to do some touring of Kenya, getting the chance to see many different animals, towns, and people.

Teresa Mellish, from Farmers Helping Farmers, was our next visitor, and with her, we had the opportunity to visit Ruuju Women’s Group, and put on a Blood Pressure Clinic for the Women.

John van Leeuwen, a veterinarian, who also works with Farmers Helping Farmers, came shortly after Teresa, and came to the Children’s Home with us. He educated some of their staff on how to improve the quality of life for their animals, therefore benefiting the Home with more milk and food for the children.

Next week, we will be meeting with a few other Islanders who work with FHF, Colleen Walton and Lisa Wolff, to assist them with the Wakulima project, in a town called Nakuru- we are looking forward to this as well!

We are so fortunate to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and none of this would have been possible without the support from many islanders and organizations, including all the people who have come to stay with us in Kenya, many Kenyan residents-Shaad Olingo, Henry Macharia, Jennifer Murogocho, the Sisters from St. Theresa’s- Sportsmen’s Safaris and Tours Ltd., the staff at St. Theresa’s Mission Hospital, the University of Prince Edward Island, Farmers Helping Farmers, and CIDA.

Thank you for your support, thoughts, and prayers from home!
~Rianne Carragher