Donor Profile: Tal and Betsy Bosin
Betsy and Tal Bosin’s decades of work together with AMPATH have helped change the lives of thousands of Kenyan physicians.
Photo Credit: Lila Armock
“I’m going to get emotional,” Tal Bosin says as his eyes well up and he begins talking about the Kenyan medical students he and his wife Betsy have assisted.
For more than 20 years, the couple has taken annual trips to Eldoret, working alongside Kenyan counterparts to award full tuition scholarships to Moi University medical students based on need, called the Mwangaza (meaning ‘light’ in Swahili) Scholarship Program.
Together with supporters and Moi University colleagues, they’ve assisted in the training of more than 2,100 Kenyan physicians now providing care to patients throughout Kenya.
A foundation in volunteering and discovering AMPATH
Tal and Betsy were both raised in families that helped others. Growing up in Wisconsin, Tal’s parents regularly welcomed visiting missionaries to their home. Betsy’s mother was, “on every committee you can name in St. Louis,” and inspired her commitment to volunteering.
The two met at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington where Betsy studied speech pathology and Tal had joined the faculty of the Medical Sciences Program where he taught IU medical students. Bloomington has been their home for over 50 years.
Tal first traveled to Kenya in 1995 with Dr. Bob Einterz on a whirlwind trip to see how Moi University and IU Bloomington could collaborate in the basic sciences, as Tal was the director of the Medical Sciences Program at that time.
He was hooked. Tal shares, “Kenya either turns you on or turns you off. I was in all the way. I had seen and smelled and experienced so many new and amazing things.” Betsy met him at the airport and Tal immediately exclaimed, “You gotta go. You really gotta go back with me.” In 1997, Tal returned with Betsy and their teenage daughter, Catherine, staying together at the first IU House in Eldoret.
Mwangaza Scholarships begin
Betsy Bosin with children from the MTRH pediatric ward in 2000.
In 2000, the couple went back again for a longer period. Tal taught about medicines used to treat infectious diseases to Moi medical students while Betsy volunteered with children in the pediatric ward. They both had a keen interest in taking on more as a couple.
Einterz, an AMPATH founder and IU faculty, suggested they spend some time documenting stories from Moi University medical students receiving scholarships and work study positions through IU’s partnership in Kenya. A recent donation by Ellie Thurston made in memory of her late husband Max was funding the tuition for some of the neediest Moi medical students who otherwise could not afford the program. This became the inspiration for their involvement, having witnessed the life-changing effect of a scholarship in the life of a needy medical student.
Together the pair interviewed scholarship recipients, learning the heartbreaking and inspiring stories of their journeys to medical school. Betsy shares, “Tal was the interrogator. I was the note taker. Tal would become teary as we heard what these students had overcome to be where they were in medical school.”
Many were orphaned or had lost family to HIV/AIDS. Students spoke about growing up in abject poverty, often delaying their education because their families couldn’t afford school fees. But still they persisted and graduated at the top in their high school class. Acceptance into medical school filled each of them with the joy of pursuing their dreams to be a doctor and the fear that they wouldn’t be able to afford tuition and would miss their chance. Mwangaza Scholarships were the answer to their need for help, covering tuition for all six years of medical school dependent on their being in good academic standing and upstanding moral character.
Betsy and Tal with graduating Mwangaza Scholars in 2019, many of whom Tal and Betsy had known for six years. The group walked over from their student hostel to surprise the Bosins with gifts.
Tal and Betsy quickly took on much more than documenting stories. They became the coordinators of the Mwangaza Scholarship Program, working closely with colleagues at Moi University School of Medicine and IU to select and support scholarship recipients. Tal continued to teach third year medical students a portion of their pharmacology course.
Tal reflects, “It was easy to go from teaching to helping. My students are my patients. And these kids are some of the brightest, most incredible people you’ve ever met.”
After Tal’s retirement from IU in 2006, they began spending six weeks each year in Eldoret collaborating to award the scholarships, interviewing recipients and assuring that proper logistics were in place. Communication with Moi University staff and students continued throughout the year.
Starving for education…and starving
“Tal and Betsy were heaven send for me. I met Tal and Betsy in my second year of study at Moi University School of Medicine while at the verge of dropping out of school due to financial constraints. Through the Mwangaza Scholarship, I was able to not only pay my school fees but also help in my upkeep while at the university. They opened their hearts, listened to my struggles and held my hand in every step of the journey. They were more than just friends, more of parents to me. Every time they came to Kenya we would meet and share stories, eat and have so much fun together as a family ‘the Bosin’s tribe.’ They were a source of encouragement to me and were very concerned about even the finest details of my progress at school.
The Bosins touched my life and through me they have transformed the face of the entire community where I come from. As I give back to this society as a medical doctor I’ll forever be grateful to the Bosins. God bless you and long live Tal and Betsy. They are a very lovely couple, very admirable. They value family so much. They are very generous and delight in helping others. Tal is also an incredible pharmacology teacher having taught me in 3rd year. Betsy is an amazing cook, I am a witness!”
Over time, Tal and Betsy began to see the need for more than just scholarships. Fortunately, their passion was contagious. Stories they brought back and shared with close friends and family inspired more supporters to invest in the Mwangaza program. An endowment was created to sustain scholarships and grow the program’s impact.
The existing Work Study Program was expanded to provide salaries to about 50 students in need each year. Next, an Emergency Fund was created to help students with dire financial needs. Betsy recalls, “We’d hear from students that their mother or father passed away, but they couldn’t afford to go home for the funeral. Or they themselves were ill and had no extra money for treatment.”
More recently, a Food Program began in partnership with the Moi Medical School Dean of Students Office as students faced hunger and difficulty affording basic supplies like ugali flour, rice, lentils, and toiletries. Tal remarks, “It’s basically feeding the future healthcare physicians of Kenya. What could be a better investment?” A limited number of vetted medical students can now access emergency food.
A legacy of impact in Kenya
Since 2000, Tal and Betsy have worked alongside Kenyan counterparts to award more than 1,100 full-tuition scholarships to needy Kenyan medical students, totally more than $412,000. Another 1,000 students have received Work Study positions.
Each year about 75 Moi medical students receive Mwangaza Scholarships and 50 are awarded Work Study positions. An additional 70-80 students are assisted annually through the Emergency Fund and Food Program.
The couple continues to keep in touch with countless current and former Mwangaza scholars over WhatsApp, email and visits.
The program hasn’t just benefited Kenyan students, it has enriched Tal and Betsy’s lives. “We’re better people. Our marriage is stronger. It has given us an opportunity to work as a team. Few couples have something that they can do together that transforms lives. It has been our privilege,” shares Tal.
Dr. George Got, a Mwangaza Scholar in 2003, named two of his children to honor the Bosins. Their baby daughter Betsy is being held by their second son named Bosin.
As travel became more difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tal and Betsy pivoted to virtual connections to continue their work.
In 2022, the Kenyan Moi University faculty initiated and completed the process of selecting new scholars and work study awardees. Betsy and Tal were grateful that their investment in the scholarship committee members had paid the dividend of sustaining all the Mwangaza programs for needy medical students.
They remain in close contact with current and former scholars, hearing about their work, their families, and their medical practices in Kenya.
Tal and Betsy noted, “We are so proud to witness these young doctors become healthcare leaders and give back to their fellow countryman. They have realized their dreams of becoming Kenyan doctors.”
“In medical school, for those of us with financial challenges, one was lucky to get the Mwangaza scholarship. At first the excitement was about the great financial burden lifted from me, the new chapter where I would focus on school and not how I would apportion the money I had to fit all my needs. Then I met Tal and Besty! I remember the first day I met them, the warm smiles and the hugs they gave me, like we had known each other forever! They felt like home! And there, that day, I gained a new family. I have never met happier people who give so wholeheartedly and selflessly. Their commitment to the scholarship program has seen so many kids like myself go through medical school. Their kindness truly knows no bounds! They have known and loved all of us since they met us. They extend their love to our families! I always look forward to their trips to Kenya. We have so much fun catching up. I love them, my family loves them and everyone they have interacted with here just loves them! Tal and Besty, when you read this, we miss you and can’t wait to have you back here in your second home!”