Pillar of Service: Healthcare Collaboration
Pillar of Service: Healthcare Collaboration
One of the key pillars of Marafiki’s work in rural Kenya over the years has been through the collaborative outreach of healthcare services. Beginning in 2015 as a way to provide additional cultural experiences to nursing students at George Fox University. This healthcare collaborative program is built on the concept of a shared mission—merging academic learning with models of holistic service, spiritual calling, and compassionate service, all utilizing the framework of cultural humility.
Over the years, this healthcare service learning program has expanded considerably to include: healthcare education in Quaker schools; observations and shared learning experiences at several Quaker sponsored rural clinics and hospitals; medical camps in rural communities; and health assessments in rural communities.
Under the shared leadership of Dr. John Muhanji, Prof. Eloise Hockett, along with the broader George Fox nursing program and Marafiki leaders, this healthcare initiative continues to flourish, while illustrating the power of cross-cultural partnerships in transforming health and community life. As within all of the programs Marafiki sponsors, this healthcare program continues to build bridges of healing, learning, and hope, bringing about lasting health transformations in schools, hospitals, and rural communities across Kenya.
Words from a nursing student after her recent trip to Kenya:
As I think back to the young student nurse last August who questioned where her purpose lay in nursing, the doubts I wrestled with before this mission seem to grow strangely dim. It has been ten days since I landed back in the States, but I am not the same person who took off on a journey bound for Kenya twenty-eight days ago. Somewhere in between, I found my voice. I gained a new calling. My role as an advocate has taken on a whole new meaning. Not only do I belong to a place where I call home in the here and now, but I also belong to the Lord’s people in Africa, those who He revealed Himself to through our team. With persistent prayers, further research, and growth in medical expertise, I will continue to seek God’s blessing in returning to Kenya to build upon that foundation of community health improvement through practical and holistic change. Whether that looks like designing a sustainable method for Samburus to attain access to clean water or partnering with the Loteleilei clinic to extend their outreach and services, my ultimate goal is to continue investing in the invaluable friendships and relationships God sowed into my life during this mission. In the meantime, I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for the deliverance of His people, not defined by nationality, but by eternal inheritance. And this will be my calling until I hear that same still, small voice resonate within me: “return, daughter, return.”