Unforgettable Premedical Shadowing Internship In Mombasa, Kenya

My 3 week experience with Elective Africa was pretty good. The first couple of days, the airport nearby had lost my luggage so I could not do anything, but Carol, the program director, and Anne, the housekeeper & chef, were very helpful and assisted me in communicating with the airports responsible until I got them back. The staff at Coast Provincial General Hospital were very kind and super friendly. Everyone there is always happy to teach you anything you want to know. I loved working in the newborn unit so much, I would not rotate out of the department. At the apartment, Carol and Anne were super lovely and treated me like I was family, which I was grateful for.. Everything felt more personal than business with Anne and Carol. Anne cared a lot, and would see the things I did eat and did not eat and adjusted to make the things I liked. Carol would carter for things personally and she was very flexible and helped to arrange for me to have my hair done at the residence by a Masai hair braider. Carol and Anne also took me to the market (atleast 5 or 6 times!) and helped me shop for souvenirs for my friends and family and made sure the vendors were giving me fair prices, which I really appreciated. Our residence was very very safe and the guards and overseer of the residence were very kind to me. I enjoyed my Swahili lessons with Purity, who did a good job of balancing necessary content for the hospital, while also asking what we wanted to learn. This program was very good thorough, and left me with good memories.

Maureen Ekweblem

Cornell University