Welcome back.  As I wrote in our initial post, my position here in Eldoret is the Medicine Team Leader.  The job entails various roles and responsibilities here but one of my favorites is working with the visiting students from Indiana University School of Medicine and our North American partner universities.  At any given time, we have approximately four to twelve students here.  Most students are here for one to two months and it is an incredible process to watch them grow and learn during  their time here.  Each student and group is very different.  Some students have never been outside the USA before while others are seasoned-explorers looking for careers in global health.  However, each brings with them an enthusiasm and caring-heart that I believe are invaluable. 

Our students spend the majority of the time working on the wards with Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH).  It is a 700-bed hospital with an average daily census of over 800 patients and many of the beds are occupied by two, if not more, patients.  As one of two referral hospitals in the country, patients come from all over Western Kenya for care here and often present severely ill.  Moreover, the diagnostic and treatment capabilities are often very limited compared to what the students are used to at their home institutions.  Yet, despite this, our students spend long hours each day working to provide each of their patients the best care possible.  As advocates for patients whom often earn less than $1-2 USD per day, I believe they are stepping into and realizing their calling as clinicians. 

Modern medical training is about more than learning about diseases and pharmacology; it entails understanding the social, cultural, and political factors of illness.  It is my privilege to watch the students learn these every day on the wards of MTRH.