|
|
For Dr. John Sidle, the phrase "summer vacation" will never be the same after surviving the recent bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi (see related story). "But that is not Kenya," he said, before describing a country so beautiful, a people so gracious and an experience so rich that even a brush with disaster cannot sour his appreciation.
 Joyce Dobson, program director of the IU-Moi University Faculty of Health Science Program, took a snapshot of these two giraffes in the Maasoi Mara preserve while in Kenya in 1995. While the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi (see story, page 1) held up visas for participants coming to Indiana this semester, 12 students and one faculty member will be arriving in the state by mid-month.
|
Since 1990, when Moi University established its medical school, the program has supported one IU faculty member on site, who shares with Kenyan physicians the responsibilities for teaching, patient care and curriculum development at the school and affiliated hospitals and health center. The universities also exchange approximately 12 residents and 12 medical students for eight-week electives.
"I spent two months here as a resident and fell in love with the program and Eldoret," Sidle said. "To understand why, you need to visit. The people of Kenya are gracious, despite hardship, and are a constant source of amazement and inspiration. The country is breathtakingly beautiful -- it's a privilege to have this opportunity."
The hospital in Eldoret is not modern -- the plumbing was reworked to empty outside only in 1994. That same year, there was neither formula nor bottles in the nursery when quads were born. Needless to say, most forms of technology are non-existent, but that doesn't mean that American physicians have nothing to gain.
"We learn more than the Kenyans could possibly learn from us, because this is the practice of medicine in a nutshell -- doing your best for the patient with whatever tools are available," said Sidle. "We learn to look at the patient instead of a page of notes and lab results, to diagnose with our brains, hands and knowledge instead of relying on technology.
"We learn that sometimes wonderful and deserving human beings die because they could not afford a few simple tests or a few cheap medicines. We learn that cultural differences are not important when human life is at stake.
"I recently watched a man die who touched me deeply," continued Sidle. "Initially, I never saw him in the hospital, but visited him constantly at home in his last weeks. He knew he was dying, long before his family did, and his acceptance and resolution were amazing. His family held exorcisms and called traditional healers, since it was obvious that modern medicine had failed.
"He, on the other hand, grabbed my hand one day and said, 'Mazungu (white man), take me to the hospital. I don't want to die at home like a dog.'
"I learned a lot about Kenyan life and death from this man -- he was my first true look into this culture at home. I also felt honored by his trust in me, even though I had nothing to offer him as far as healing was concerned.
"The Kenyans can come to our hospitals and learn modern medicine at its finest. But, you only once have to watch a family caring for a loved one here to realize that somewhere along the line, we have lost something basic in all our modern and accessible medicine at home."
Read more about the Kenya-IU exchange on line in Indiana University Medicine:
http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/jambo.htm
Read about Dr. Robert M. Einterz, whose work in developing the Moi-IU collaboration earned him the John W. Ryan Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Programs and Studies in 1997:
http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/homepages/0221/text/awards.htm
Return to Table of Contents