Medical Mission Stories: Guilty Views, Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪
I have only been here within the last few days, lets say approximately 4 days, maybe I have seen too many underprivileged patients seeking medical care, and this has made me feel guilty waking up in a 5 star hotel. My view is excellent and charming, and relaxing. But I cannot say the same for the patients I'm about to go see today.
To make matters worse, when I think of the patients who slept with no heat in 57 degree (or lower degree) weather overnight; knowing that they had to make their way to the hospital via different modes of transportation with uncertainty of not feeling well, or not being able to afford the cost of healthcare, ignites such guilt within me. Imagine being so sick that you can barely function, and to make matters worse, you cannot afford healthcare, so you go to the hospital anyway, in hopes for a miracle. That's sad to me.
I have learned quite a few lessons here, and the core component of the lessons learned is humility, and "how privileged I am". As we drive to the hospital in the morning, the roads are winding, and not easy to navigate, and aside the hustle of weaving through traffic, and avoiding pedestrian accidents, the view in the Eastlands of Nairobi, Kenya is quite saddening. Hospitality in habitation is alien to this neighborhood, the smell of the gutters filled with dead garbage mixed with sewage, is barely appetizing or motivating. The homes (houses) have little or no spacing between them, seeing greenery is totally impossible, and marketplace is very congested.
Aside the poor living environment and unhealthy ambience that these patients face on a daily basis, they do not have better overall health outcomes. The access to health at the nearest hospital is limited in resources. The other hospitals that “could” possibly provide a better healthcare are too pricey for these citizens to afford. So I ask "what kind of cruelty is this"? The poor once again have to face more hurdles to life! We have to do better as a human race to take care of one another, in spite of the differences that exist amongst us.
This is the reason why when I wake up in such a high-class hotel on a medical mission, I am filled with such guilt, and I wish I could provide a better outcome for this patient population. It is heartbreaking, and I know I'm going to do something positive about this. I will be part of this positive change. I am informed, the government is taking measures to better this situation and improve outcomes, and that I would be ecstatic to see.
Medical Mission Stories,
Love Always.
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