Headin' Home

“Home again, Home again,.. jiggety jig…..”  I’m dating myself, I know, but for those who may not know the reference,… its from an old Mother Goose tale,… again, dating myself. U.S.A we’re headed your way. But anyway, we’ve crammed a lot into 3 weeks. Hitting the ground and immediately visiting a major organization in the medication supply chain, through talks at Gatando Girls School, at Huruma Orphanage (along with a medical camp at the orphanage) and the Hospital Pharmacist Association of Kenya, making rounds at St. Mary’s Missions Hospital, to meeting with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and establishing potentially enduring relationships with two pharmacy schools at major Kenyan Universities.   An impact has been made. The team’s parents relatives and friends should be proud…. We all should be proud. 

These guys do not know fear. They know being careful and being thoughtful. But they do not know fear, and that’s good because fear prevents you from reaching the world. And their minds are set on doing good, and doing it on a broad scale. And isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want to ensure leadership in healthcare, justice in healthcare and teamwork for it all to get done? On our shores, definitely, but also globally. Being afraid prevents that. Having fear prevents connection. And when that happens, hope dies. Idealism, which these guys have enough of to sell, dies. And we’re supposed to help them hold onto their idealism, lest the future would look bleak, indeed. So let’s not teach or encourage fear even when it means searching for purpose in places like Nairobi, Kenya.

So we've had a grand time, ...a memorable time,... a meaningful time. Perhaps most importantly though, an impact has been made on us. We wish this team well. They can now, with great truth, testify that they've been Proven Everywhere.  See you soon.

Leadership

Leadership. An important quality in life indeed. Many African countries look to Kenya for leadership in healthcare...particular sub-sharan Africa. But let's add some perspective. Sub-saharan Africa is currently home to over 1 billion people. By the year 2050, this number becomes over 2 billion. And by 2100 the number explodes to almost 4 billion people (the world's population will be over 11 billion). Which means that by the turn of the next century, sub-saharan Africa will be home to approximately one-third of this planet's population. I get blown away by these numbers. I realize that not every one does. But all of us need to pay attention, because in the big picture, we depend on each other for survival. Healthcare is the main topic across the world, NOW. I can't begin to imagine what it will be like in the year 2100 with over 11 billion people vying for resources. But Kenya has indeed taken a leadership role in educating other African countries on the way forward into the next century. Perhaps because there are so many countries conjoined (54), there is a realization the continent's continued growth (and they are growing and progressing) will depend on collaboration. My educational partner in Kenya, Dr. Titus Kahiga of Kenyatta University, left for Ghana this morning to give such a presentation at the 2017 AFREHEALTH symposium on how African health care professions can, and will, work together to manage the needs of the coming population boom. Stay tuned.. and pay attention,.. as this country, and continent, lead the way for all of us, speeding toward the 22nd century.

Exploring your strength,.. and Wisdom

Mission trips have been given a bad name. And in many cases, deservedly so. In medical missions particularly. Its hard to determine or justify any benefit that might result from examining a patient or dispensing a medication without any assurance that what you've done has lasting results. So let's switch gears from examining and dispensing to assisting with local policy and education. Let's see how things work here before we examine and dispense. Why don't we ask questions, discuss, and then, ask more questions. There are four U.S. pharmacy students who are doing just that....in Kenya.

Kenyan health care, in many instances, is managed by pharmacists. A pharmacist is Registrar (Commissioner) of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the equivalent of the U.S. FDA. A pharmacist is Director of the National Quality Control Laboratory. This is the branch of government responsible for ensuring approval of high quality medication distribution as well as making recommendation for approval to the PPB. There are so many other areas of pharmacist' responsibility. We are in the right place, at the right time. And in advocating for the profession, Kenyan pharmacists have advocated for the full healthcare team to provide meaningful quality of life for all Kenyans, health-wise. But these professionals realize that the journey has not ended. There is a distance to travel, still.

That's why I watch in awe as four U.S. Pharmacy students detail their experience in pharmacy education to the Registrar/Commissioner and the governing board of the PPB. They're intently interested in implementation of the PharmD degree in Kenya. I'm witness to the excited atmosphere when they present to the Hospital Pharmacist Association of Kenya (HOPAK). I observe as they participate with practicing pharmacist at the community level in a dispensing capacity, pharmacists who are passionate about their interaction with patients. And yes, there's been the medical camp at which we treated over 290 children at an orphanage. These four are putting the full thrust of their education to work. They are exploring and exercising their professional strength and wisdom. Learning how the system works is where we begin to change things,....longterm.

So this is a different type of medical mission trip. One in which there is full immersion, learning and engagement with those on the ground. How does the system work? Teach me, and together we may be able to go in a different direction and reach a higher plane of existence. One where everyone is the beneficiary of a growing society. Jesus talked about this all the time "...that they might have life more abundantly."  Shouldn't we all take a page from the book that these four U.S. Pharmacy students are writing?

We're at it again

So we're showing up again, in Nairobi, Kenya, that is. Making a repeat appearance to work and connect with other health care professionals on the other side of the planet. Its been 3 years since we've been to the campus of Kenyatta University,..think Kenya's version of Penn, or UCLA,... with its 70,000 students. The KU school of pharmacy and complimentary medicine excitedly awaits us, and we're a team of 5 ---my traveling companions, 4 courageous and seeking pharmacy students, wanting to touch the world--- and me.

There's lots of joy here,...there's much anticipation, and there's an eagerness to explore that's palpable. Faith Lee reached out to me over a year ago expressing her desire to move in a direction outside the traditional realm of pharmacy. Then came Terrence Caldwell, followed quickly by Cameron Golden and Vivian Chen. A perfect blend of intellectual curiosity, laughter and fortitude that creates a team desiring to heal the world. Watch them,... they will do it.

But these guys are on a journey, one they've started long ago, within their families, their churches, their communities, and this is just a stop along the way. Nairobi Kenya will offer them mentorship among individuals that have truly been tried and have succeeded. Many of us think of Kenya as a developing nation. But no, ...its a developed nation.  Developed in spirit, in character, in hope and in love. Faith, Terrence, Cameron and Vivian have chosen and have asked to dwell among the people of Kenya, to learn ad be mentored by the people of Kenya for 3 weeks.  I would be hard pressed to be among those who might deny them this. And so, I am blessed to be their guide, to be their mentor on this part of their journey.

And let's not forget their parents, who have sent them on their way, with trust, and yes, concern, but with much love. It takes much love to allow your child to travel 7,000 miles away from your protection, to explore how your child might become an instrument of God's peace.  But it also takes a village to teach all of us to be instruments of that peace. And yes, sometimes this takes you to your global village.

And so here we are,...Nairobi, Kenya. Showing up again.       

We Belong to Each Other... or there is no peace

This year’s political environment has sparked much division within our families and among friends and those with whom we are close. Prior to this year’s (2017 for future readers) presidential inauguration, I posted the following in response to a statement of potential family division, made by someone I love (a nephew). We must always remember that our public affirmations, no matter how firmly held, can be damaging to those we share family ties, but our responses cannot spark further division nor be personalized:

I am blessed and honored to be have been alive in a period when a president of the U.S. has been as kind, as graceful, having a complete measure of integrity and dignity as Barack Hussein Obama. I am saddened that we are entering an era of condescension, mean-spritedness and arrogance. The past 8 years have been marked by intelligent and magnificent oration, by thoughtful debate, by openness and, yes, humor and humanity. We watch with dismay, an approaching time of immature and painful discourse, of embarrassment on the global stage and profound narcissism.

Words matter!! There are many who share these sentiments, with whom we also share a bond of family and friends. It is hurting and even insulting to celebrate the temporary suspension of this phase of U.S. history that has meant so much to so many. There are indeed 6 days remaining of a presidency that has been able to represent the U.S. with pride, with intelligence, with love and grace. We should all be extremely proud of this, and extremely sad that it is ending.

My parents, the grandparents of my children, would be extremely sad. My parents were in the vanguard of the civil rights movement along with John Lewis, who has been denigrated by the incoming administration. When denigrating Congressman Lewis, we are all disrespected. We have all been men and women of action in the struggle, and yes it has been a struggle, for a Barack Hussein Obama to exist. It is unthinkable that this period of history and those who lived it would be dismissed in this manner. Yet this is what we can expect, so there is no real surprise here.

But there’s good news in that the coming week will present us with 2 important choices. On Monday we celebrate the birth of MLK. On Friday, we inaugurate an incoming president. From Monday onward we can be energized through commemorating the legacy of hope, grace and love we have been bequeathed. Or, on Friday, we can be immobilized by fear, close-mindedness and the hate that we are moving toward. And of course, the third option is that for people of good will, Friday will serve as a motivating force none-the-less.

The arc of the emerging consciousness, I think, is bending toward a re-energized hope. And there is an important distinction to be drawn between the choice of hope or fear: Hope will, by definition, pull us together, whereas fear will continue to wedge us apart. Being on a lonely planet in an outpost of the Universe doesn’t make separatism possible without insanity.

Therefore, I pray that through all of this we will all ultimately hear echos of Mother Teresa’s quote: “If there is no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other.”