MedTreks Kenya Global Health Field Course — Village HopeCore International

This past July, our 10th MedTreks Kenya Global Health Field Seminar took place at Village HopeCore International in Chogoria, Kenya.

This program is a partnership between MedTreks International and Village HopeCore International. The model for this program was created back in 2006 when I witnessed first hand the HopeCore staff working tirelessly with dedication to bring healthcare to their rural communities. I began to brainstorm strategies for a cross-cultural learning experience - where both HopeCore and visitors from outside of the country, would benefit from a collaborative knowledge exchange program.

As a medical professional working in the United States, I often hear other medical professionals share their frustration in humanitarian medicine endeavors: " I want to give back, I want to go work abroad - but I am not sure how to get started and how do I know if the organization is doing what they say they are?”

Finding legitimate organizations to volunteer with overseas can be an exhausting and overwhelming process. I know this from personal experience. This is why, as I became more involved in HopeCore - I realized that this incredibly sustainable, impactful, grassroots organization is ready and waiting to partner with the right people.

In 2017, I launched the first MedTreks Kenya program. The model of this Global Health Field Course was twofold: 1) have our visitors experience the daily pop-up community health services that HopeCore successfully provides and in turn, 2) have our visitors provide continuing education and training for the Kenyan HopeCore staff. Both sides learn, and both sides teach.

Too often, Global Health programs focus on just showing up and “doing” for a short period of time, and then when those programs are gone, there is really nothing left behind. This is not the model of MedTreks Kenya. Our structure is rooted in collaboration and a consistent loop of constant feedback and improvements. We return to Kenya every year and each time we return, we get to know the staff a little better. We get to learn about the prominent health conditions in the area. We also get to learn what exactly it is that the HopeCore team is requesting in support: both in education and equipment.

This past July, we had 14 healthcare professionals join our MedTreks Kenya program. There was a mix of doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, EMTs, and lab technologists. We had two nurses who have both returned to Kenya for their 6th time in the last 4 years: Jan Zachry (current HopeCore Board Member) and Debi Solberg. Each time we return to Kenya, we have returning visitors. HopeCore reaches people in a way that is hard to describe - it is the warmth of the staff, who even after a short week of interactions, feel like family. It also is the location of Chogoria - beautiful, lush, and decorated with hillside farms, and coffee and tea plantations. It is a lovely place to spend the week. Mostly, what grabs the attention and the dedication of our visitors, is the fact that they have now become part of something - something that is improving and saving lives on a daily basis. Being a part of something like this is something that not everyone gets to experience.

Yes, I launched this program in 2017 in order to help bring trained professionals to HopeCore to provide education and training so that our staff wouldn’t have to spend the money and time to travel far distances to gain continuing education…but I also launched this program as a much-needed opportunity for the healthcare professionals in the United States - to be able to witness, first-hand, a program that has been operating and expanding since the year 2000, with very limited funding and yet reaching hundreds of thousands of people because of the comprehensive community development strategy that focuses on health, economic empowerment, and capacity building.

Being a part of of HopeCore is special, and as most of our MedTreks Kenya visitors will share: life-changing.

Our specific trip in Kenya this summer focused on a 1-day Mental Health training that was provided by four members of the MedTreks team. Four of our MedTreks participants teamed up months before the trip to design and build out a curriculum on Mental Health. MedTreks instructors Zan Zachry, Debi Solberg, Mia Duenes, and Chelsea Tersavich recorded their lectures and compiled the content into a virtual course that the Kenya team can access anytime after the in-person training. Personal stories were shared, difficult questions were asked, and at the end of the day, there was so much gratitude from everyone who participated in the course, learning to address mental health and breaking down the stigma associated with mental health issues.

The rest of the days were spent in the community health activities that HopeCore provides: school health clinics, maternal child health clinics, and home visits.

Below are a few photos from our time in Kenya.

I am excited to be expanding the MedTreks Kenya Global Health Field course - allowing students and passionate healthcare professionals an opportunity to learn a new and innovative way of providing healthcare in resource-limited areas.

With deep gratitude to HopeCore and the MedTreks Kenya participants,

~Ari