High School Study Abroad in South America

The trip started of amazing, as I went on it got even better with us going all across Ecuador learning the culture and eating different foods. The favourite highlight from the trip was especially the butterfly farm and being able to have that experience of being surrounded by such beautiful butterflies.

My experience with International Medical Aid in Kenya is one that I will never forget. The memories I made during this program will be cherished forever. During this internship as a high school student, everything I saw was new to me. My time at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital was transformative. The experience of rotating through different departments was eye-opening and profoundly educational. In the pediatric department, I witnessed the severe effects of poverty and disease. The sight of malnourished children and the struggle of their families was heart-wrenching. One of the most impactful moments was observing a lumbar puncture procedure on a child suspected of having meningitis. Despite the distressing nature of the procedure, it was a significant learning opportunity that deepened my understanding of medical practices. Beyond the hospital, engaging with local communities was an enriching aspect of the program. Participating in health clinics at local schools allowed me to interact with children and learn about their lives. Despite initial nervousness about public speaking, I grew more confident as I engaged with the children, providing advice and support on various health topics. The mental health clinics, in particular, were both challenging and rewarding. Addressing issues such as domestic abuse and food insecurity, although difficult, provided valuable insights into the socio-economic challenges faced by the local population. My outlook on life will forever be altered because of this program. This program was able to convert me into a very social person that I wasn't before. I will always remember the people that I met in Kenya and the memories I made with them. My safety in Kenya was never a concern for me because the mentors told us what to avoid and recommended better and safer options. The mentors were extremely supportive and helpful if I had any questions or concerns and made sure all the interns were having a great time. The food was great and it was always a highlight to come back from the hospital and sit down for a fulfilling meal with your friends. I will forever grateful for this experience, Kenya and IMA will always have a special place in my heart. I tried as best as I could to show no fear about this internship, I wanted to trick myself into thinking that I wasn’t scared. I was able to keep my composure until the 15-hour flight from New York to Nairobi, that's when it hit me. The fact that I wouldn’t see my family for four weeks on a continent I have never been on, with people I have never met. It was a lot, I just hoped that I could get through it. It wasn’t until I met a couple of other interns in the Nairobi airport that I knew I would be just fine. As soon as the wheels hit the tarmac in Mombasa I knew that this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would change my life forever. Despite being a high school student, I was fortunate enough to have access to Biomedical Science courses that my school which opened my eyes to the medical field. Having only ever shadowed a physician's assistant for a couple of hours before coming here, I had no idea what to expect especially in a foreign country. For four weeks I was constantly learning, my brain never relaxed, fascinated the whole time. Even the car ride from the airport to the residence was shocking, the ability to drive without stop signs, and traffic lights was something I had never seen. One of the biggest takeaways I have from this experience that I didn’t think about before arriving was the social aspect of this trip. I have never been the most social person when it comes to meeting new people but this trip changed that tremendously. I was truly surprised about how nice and talkative everyone was to all of the new interns, by the end of the night I think I said my name and where I am from over 20 times. I was super excited to get to know everyone and learn about them. I knew that most of the interns would be in college so I wanted to learn a lot from them about college and their advice for me at my age. My biggest fear before arriving was that I wasn’t going to find a group to hang out with but after the night I arrived I knew I had nothing to be worried about. This internship truly changed my entire perspective on people and my opinion of myself. I used to struggle with social anxiety and my ability to be myself around others that I didn’t know. I realized that I should be myself and not what I think others want me to be, if people don’t like me for being me then that is their issue. When I arrived the other interns made me feel like I belonged and that I was liked and appreciated. I knew that this was how I wanted to treat all of the new interns who would come in during my internship. The group of interns that I came in with were mostly high schoolers which made it very easy for us to become good friends during the trip. This experience let me know a lot about myself and the first impressions I gave to people. I was surprised to find that everyone thought I was a lot older than I was and they thought that I was very mature for my age. I appreciated this because I have always thought that I struggled with first impressions and meeting new people. After two weeks, a large amount of people left especially people who I was close with. This left me wondering about who I was going to hang out with for my last two weeks leaving me with only one choice. I need to find other interns and become really good friends with them, I thought that this was going to be a lot harder than it was. Making new friends is something that I have struggled with my whole life, once I get close to people it is hard for me to move on once they leave. I have always viewed myself as not enough for people to have me as their friend but this internship changed that. The newfound social skills that I was able to learn during this experience will forever impact me in the future. All conservations and interactions I have with people will now be changed because of this internship. Every time I think back to this unparalleled experience my mind will always go to one place, Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital. The combination of knowledge, information, and lessons that I learned about there is something that I will never forget. Since I haven’t had a lot of experience in Western hospitals, everything I saw was truly fascinating. My first rotation was in the pediatric department, where I saw which diseases and illnesses were affecting the children of Kenya the most. I gathered so much knowledge during this week because it was the first time I was able to see the effects of poverty and health issues in Kenya. I have always known that Kenya and other African countries are plagued with malaria, poverty, food insecurity, and lack of access to clean water. But to see the effects of the combination of those on a child was astonishing. The hardest thing for me was seeing how much malnutrition was in the wards with almost every child being diagnosed. It was hard seeing such young patients in so much pain and having to see mothers wonder if their child is going to survive. The most memorable moment in pediatrics was when a young boy was suspected of having meningitis and needed a lumbar puncture. In school, I learned a lot about meningitis and lumbar punctures but to see one in person was a full-circle moment. It was difficult to watch the boy having to be held down by a nurse as he was sobbing because there was no anesthesia used. The doctors and nurses struggled to extract the spinal fluid and it took them many tries to get the sample which caused the patient a lot of pain. Despite the pain that came with the test I was captivated by it. It was the first medical procedures/tests that I have ever seen and I just couldn’t stop watching. One of the interns who was also watching the lumbar puncture has had one before in a western hospital and it was cool to hear about how his experience was different. The doctor who had the biggest impact on me during my time in pediatrics was Dr. Ken. He was such a good teacher and I learned so much about the different illnesses as well as the most common symptoms that the patients come in with. The tuberculosis clinic with Dr. Ken was where I learned the most because TB is rare where I live and did not know much about it. After just a couple of hours in the TB clinic I gained so much knowledge about it and its effects on the people of Kenya. It was scary to learn about how TB can spread anywhere in the body besides a person’s nails or hair. During my time in pediatrics, I got my first taste of how patient care was in CGTRH and how different it was from the US. It was quite scary and infuriating at times to hear the doctors yelling at the nurses. The nurses would be scolded for not changing IVs, not administering antibiotics, and just negligence in general. Also, the lack of communication between the doctors and patients was stunning, many times the patients did not know why they were getting a certain test or treatment. Throughout my time at CGTRH, I was able to realize a lot about healthcare especially when it comes to having skilled and caring doctors and nurses. The biggest difference that leads to such a gap in healthcare between the Western world and developing countries is money. The employees at CGTRH do not get compensated for the amount of work they do which harms everybody. Just a couple of months before I came to Kenya there was a strike of Mar 14, 2024 where almost every doctor in public healthcare went on strike which led to many people dying (Raballa, 2024). The doctors wanted better welfare because they knew that they do a lot more work than what they get paid for. The patients suffer so much due to the negligence of the healthcare workers that they trust to help them. Despite some nurses caring less than others there were still a great deal of people who were amazing to the patients and who I wanted to be model myself after. Seeing the patients interact with doctors gave me a detailed insight into the dos and don’ts of how to treat a patient which I couldn’t get where I live. My main goal for this internship was to try and get a better understanding of what I want to specialize in as a doctor, in my second week I did just that. Coming into this internship I was most excited to see what surgery had to offer especially in a foreign country. I had never seen a surgery in-person before and I had no idea what to expect. As soon as I walked into the OR for the first time I immediately was mesmerized, I saw a surgeon with a mallet pounding away at the patient's tibia to put it back in place. Before my week in surgery, some interns were talking to me about surgery and how they almost passed out during their first time. This made me a little nervous but I was confident that I was going to be fine in surgery. Everything I saw in surgery was a first, the bones, tissue, the sheer amount of blood. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen, I couldn’t look away even for a second. I watched a newborn with hydrocephalus go into cardiac arrest on the operating table and get revived by the doctors. It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the patient was dead in front of me before he was resuscitated. The surgeons and nurses were extremely calm during the cardiac arrest, they just started CPR immediately and were able to save the child. The entire surgery process was incredible from start to finish. I found it especially interesting when the surgeons were suturing the patient back up and I could see the different types of sutures they used. The night shift I did in surgery is an unforgettable experience that I will always look back to when I think about this internship. Due to the protests occurring the night of my night shift the entire night was something out of a TV show. Throughout the night, my fellow interns and I saw four gunshot wounds over the course of around five hours. Being fortunate enough to be allowed to watch the surgeries of these patients is something that I will forever be grateful for. I never thought I would ever see a gunshot wound in person but seeing four in one night was shocking. The most memorable surgery during that night shift was the second one that I watched. The craziest part about it was that the patient was the same age as me, 17 years old. He wasn’t even a part of the protests, he was standing in his yard and then got shot in the hand by the police. The patient was braver than I could have ever been, after only being given a local anesthetic he was looking at his thumb that was falling off the rest of his hand. He was very interested in the mutilated hand especially once the doctor drilled a nail into his thumb to put it back in place. I was in awe, watching a kid my age get his thumb drilled back into place and he was fine, with no tears or signs of pain. After the second surgery, the other interns and I left to surprise another intern for their birthday, and on our way out we had an unforgettable moment. As we were leaving the 17-year-old’s Dad was outside and asked us if his son was going to be okay. We assured him that we were going to be fine and that the surgery went well. As soon as he heard that, his eyes lit up and he started thanking us saying, “God bless you”. Even though I knew we didn’t help with the surgery at all just being able to give the Dad peace of mind about his son is a feeling I will never forget. I knew that I wanted to chase that feeling for the rest of my life, being able to help people and just knowing how much it means to them. I thought about that moment every day for the next week and just remembered how happy it made me feel that I could help somebody who needed to hear some good news. This was my biggest takeaway from the entire 4-week experience because I realized how much I love helping people more than I ever did before. I also realized that I want to be a surgeon because of how interesting and how there's a lot of pressure but it is also very meticulous. I loved the atmosphere during surgery because it was fully dependent on the surgeon, some would listen to music during the surgery while others kept the room very tense and serious. There was another very memorable surgery that I watched during an afternoon shift that has also stuck with me. A man was attacked by another person who was armed with a machete and the man needed emergency surgery. It was the most hectic surgery that I watched because of how much was going on at once. The man was having the tendons in his hand sutured back together so he would be able to use his fingers as well as having brain surgery. The aspect that made this so memorable was when I could see a part of his brain pulsing which I thought was intriguing. One of my favorite things about International Medical Aid was doing clinics at local schools and being able to interact with all the kids and people there. The clinics were so fun and I would always be so happy when could greet all the kids and give them all high fives. The fact that they were so excited to see all of the interns was so heartwarming and I loved every minute of it. Once I learned about what terrible things a lot of the kids were going through at home it felt even better that I was able to brighten their day. It was also a great learning experience for me because I have always struggled with public speaking and I was quite nervous in my first clinic because there were so many kids. I was able to get a lot more comfortable with public speaking and with coming up with things to talk about on the spot. The mental health clinic was very memorable for me because I felt that the kids got a lot of good advice from everybody especially when they would ask questions. It was hard to answer a lot of the questions that kids would give to us because I had never done anything with mental health before. The questions were also about things I have never experienced such as domestic abuse and food insecurity. Even though I wasn’t able to answer a lot of the questions the other interns were still able to give good answers and I think helped the kids get a better understanding of what to do. After we finished the mental health part of the clinic all of the interns danced with all the kids which I had a lot of fun doing. It was great seeing so many people with different backgrounds and experiences be able come together and just dance. It was cool to be able to see how the education system works in Kenya versus how it is back in the US. The first thing I noticed when I first arrived at my first clinic was how the teachers and structure of the education were very strict. The teachers would carry around sticks and it made me wonder if this was more or less effective and getting the kids to stay on task. During the clinics, I learned a lot about how serious the students are about exams and getting good grades which I thought was good. Being able to have kids realize how important school is at a young age is crucial to them being successful. During my time in Kenya, I found that I very much enjoyed learning about the similarities and differences between the US and Kenya when it comes to health. The lectures and Dr. Shazim were very useful in helping me learn differences that I couldn’t see at the hospital. However, learning about Kenya’s healthcare also came with some appalling information about how they struggle with certain parts of healthcare. The statement that stuck out to me the most was, “This translates to an average of 21 doctors and 100 nurses per 100,000 people compared with the WHO-recommended minimum staffing levels of 36 doctors and 356 nurses per 100,000 people” (International Medical Aid 2024). I was shocked when I heard this because when I work I know what being understaffed feels like but I couldn’t even imagine what it is like being a healthcare worker in Kenya. The fact that nurses have to do 3 times the work that they should be doing. After hearing this information I realized that even though the nurses and doctors do a poor job sometimes they are doing so much more work than they should be doing. I remember during one of the debriefs or lectures I was told that the ratio of doctors to civilians in Kenya was 1:16000, this left me astounded. I couldn’t wrap my head around this statistic because of how unreal it sounded. Just seeing how long the time was outside of Coast General was so depressing that most of those people would not even get seen by a medical professional that day. During my third week of the program, I was placed in the Internal Medicine department of the hospital which helped me learn a lot of valuable lessons. Internal Medicine was a very sad and sorrowful place to be in because I knew that the wards had a high mortality rate. I would constantly be thinking about how many of the people in this ward were going to die soon and I couldn’t help them. Internal Medicine was a variety of cases ranging from cancer to heart failure and many things in between. After learning about how non-communicable diseases are plaguing Kenya I was able to see the real-time effects of them on people. I was able to see real people instead of just statistics such as the fact that non-communicable diseases cause 27% of the deaths in Kenya (International Medical Aid 2024). Being able to see humans instead of just numbers was eye-opening because I see a lot of crazy statistics but being able to see them in real-time is horrifying. One patient in particular that I saw was a woman who had her eye removed at another hospital but she didn’t know why and neither did the doctor at Coast General. This shed light on how bad things can get when a healthcare professional doesn’t communicate their decisions with a patient. The conditions of the wards in Internal Medicine were also quite shocking because of the difference between the male and female wards. The male wards had curtains that separated the patients and allowed them to have some privacy. The female wards and no curtains and had the patient's bed around 3 feet apart from one another. Also, both wards had beds that were outside in the heat which was something I never thought I would see especially in such a hot place. Birds were flying in and out of the windows as well as the patients constantly had flys landing on them, for the most part, it was the unconscious patients who would end up flys buzzing all around them. Since I am a high school student I was afraid that my age was going to be a disadvantage during the trip because I wouldn’t be as knowledgeable as the other interns. While I was not as educated as the other interns I was able to use my age and lack of experience as an advantage. I was able to learn so much because everything I saw was new to me and allowed me to get the most out of this program. The one drawback I discovered was that I couldn’t compare the Western hospitals to Coast General as much as the other interns could. But this meant that when I would hear them talk about the differences I was able to gain a better understanding of western hospitals. The coincidence of the protests occurring during the same time I was in Kenya was very tragic yet gave me an interesting perspective. After learning what the protesters were calling it was a surreal thing to think about because during school I learned about times in history where civilians have called for political change. I was able to experience Kenyan history happening in real-time and feel a part of it because I was able to see the tragic moments while in the hospital. I will forever be grateful for this unparalleled experience and how much I was able to take away from it. From the pages and pages of notes I took during my time in the hospital to the unforgettable nights with the other interns, I will always reminisce about this program. Interacting with the local children and being able to teach them about hygiene, mental health, and women's health was so much fun. Being able to see the coolest and most gruesome things I have ever seen in a hospital was incredible. Kenya and International Medical Aid will always have a special place in my heart.