Summer of a life time.

My name is Ashley Caulier, and I am a fourth year nursing student from the University of Prince Edward Island, currently doing a summer internship in a rural town called Kiirua, located in Kenya, Africa. We arrived in Kenya over two months ago. I was joined by three really amazing nursing students from my class who made this journey a memorable experience.

One reason I wanted to travel to Kenya was to become of member of the Kenyan population, to understand the struggle that faces this nation on a daily bases. I feel as though I have become a member of Kenya and have first hand experience with the struggles that face the Kenyan people, and if not at least we were counted in the senses . The experience has been life changing, I have grown to become a better nurse, to understand that with limited resources and technology we can still provide the most effective, safe, ethical care possible.

The first week we were in Kiirua, Kim Critchley, the Dean of nursing at UPEI talked with us about the challenges we were going to face when providing health care in a third world country. She told us, we had to make this our own experience and I feel we have accomplished this. She quoted a nursing theorist saying “nurse with your head, your hands, and your heart” and this will make all the difference when providing health care in Kenya. With the limited technology we are use to and barriers in communication ,this quote has made all the difference in my practice as a growing nurse throughout my internship experience in Kenya. This experience has taken me back to a basics of nursing using my head for knowledge/critical think, my hands for assessment and comfort, my heart to step into the shoes of the people we care for and understand them in a more in depth way.

We are doing our placement at St. Theresa’s Mission Hospital, and staying at a compound on the hospital’s compound. The people here are so welcoming, and continue to make an effort to make us feel at home and comfortable each day. We are truly loved. We work in the hospital rotating through the different wards Monday through Wednesday. Theatre (OR) is my favourite and I have scrubbed into more than three surgeries. Talk about hands on experience.

Thursdays, we all head out on HIV/AIDS outreach with a Registered Nurse from the hospital, as well as a client here that is HIV positive. This client also is the head of the HIV/AIDS self-help group at the hospital, she is one of the strongest women I have ever met. During these Thursdays, we go to different communities, most areas with a lot of poverty and go door to door and educate families about HIV/AIDS and coming to the hospital for testing. HIV/AIDS is still a very big stigma and people are very scared to get tested and talk about HIV/AIDS although its all around them. Today in the maternal clinic I watch a young couple expecting a baby get tested for HIV, the mother was positive and the husband was negative, this new information will change this women’s life forever and her unborn child. It was hard to see the look on her face when she said the words “positive“. During our visits we see first hand how much these people struggle to live day to day with limited recourses. It is heart breaking to see hungry little eyes looking up at you and not being able to do anything about it. That is one of the hardest things I have had to deal with. I have learned a lot about myself in doing outreach and the stigma that is attached to people living with HIV/AIDS, I feel this is something I no longer carry. I have held the hand of a young child living with aids, hugged women and children who are HIV positive and this is something that is natural now, I do it without thinking. Although our population is scared of this disease, there is a person behind that face with all the same hope we have to live a full, happy, healthy  life.

Fridays we finish off by going to a Children’s Home with over 30 plus children ranging from ages 1 month-5 years living in the home as orphans. After 5 years old, they are sent back into the community with the hopes that they will find someone to live with or take care of them. We mostly work with the beautiful infants, and help to bathe, feed, play, cuddle and provide them with lots of love. The home is run by great people and they love to see us coming. This is one of the happiest things I get to do here. I love children and to think I get to give a little love and time a child we was left alone is something I do without thinking. They are starting to know when we are there because they will start to cry, knowing we will pick them up, most days we have two or three babies in our arms at a time. I am going to miss our babies.

Finally, being a member of the UPEI Women’s varsity soccer team, I was in heaven the first day I came along this primary school when running and the children where out playing Football. There soccer ball was not the one I played with growing up but a real Kenyan soccer ball made of old plastic bags and tied with string. I played with them for an hour and ran home in tears, enlightened in a way words will never be able to explain. It was a real dream come true. I was happy that I took and a friend gave me some soccer balls to give to the children. I have never seen so many smiling faces.

We are so fortunate to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and none of this would have been possible without the support from many islanders, Kim Critchley Dean of nursing and Kevin Teather a biology professor at UPEI who were our fearless leaders when arriving. Teresa Mellish and John van Leeuwen, a veterinarian at UPEI/ work with Farmers Helping Farmers, Colleen Walton and Lisa Wolff, working with the Wakulima project, and other organizations, this includes all the people who have come to stay with us in Kenya who made us feel at home. Also many Kenyan residents-Shaad Olingo, Henry Macharia, Jennifer Murogocho, the Sisters from St. Theresa’s- Sportsmen’s Safaris and Tours Ltd., the staff at St. Theresa’s Mission Hospital, who made us feel at home thanks you. Also to the University of Prince Edward Island, Farmers Helping Farmers, and CIDA again for all for support and big thanks for this experience. Suna Thanks you so much without you none of this would have been possible and you kept our parents happy! Thanks to my family, friends, coaches and team mates for all your love and support.

I am going to miss Africa.

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