One of the joys of my job is to be with students and residents as they experience what it means- many for the first time- to live in another culture.  More than trying some new foods and learning some greetings in another language, this experience is challenging for the visiting students and residents as they come up against different cultural perspectives on money, work, time, death, illness, and gender.

Recently, we were given the rare opportunity to hear what is like for the Kenyans who Kenyans visit America.  Each year a number of the top medical students from Moi University School of Medicine are given the opportunity to go an spend a couple of months in North America at various AMPATH partner medical centers.  With each site having a slightly different feel, the Kenyan students rotate through the hospitals on different services while spending time off travelling and exploring their new homes. 

Upon their return to Kenya, they give presentations- pictures and stories included- to one another.  This year we were privileged enough to see their presentations.  One of my favorite quotes about Americans was that "they work like demons" as one group described arriving at the hospital before dawn and working long days.  Their pictures showed them working and having fun with their North American colleagues.  And while the fall weather was a little bit of change and we talk a little faster than they are used to, it seemed as though they all had a great experiences.

The true measure of success of the program, though, will be in the coming years as these students become physicians and the leaders of healthcare in Kenya.  We hope that this experience contributes to their perspectives as they begin to care for patients and consider what is- as well as develop their own vision for what could be- health care within this country.