By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
CARO — As college students finished with classes for the summer, Shelby Goodman and Abby Morse could head for beaches, amusement rides or water parks.
The Delta College nursing students, however, are focusing on a two-week trip to Kenya to help patients at a public hospital and children at an orphanage in a country plagued by unemployment, corruption and AIDS.
“I wouldn’t say this is a vacation, but I haven’t done any mission-type work or anything like that, so it will definitely be a different experience, for sure,” said Goodman, 22, of Vassar Township, daughter of John and Tracie Cook.
Goodman and Morse, along with Delta nursing student Courtney Licavoli of the Saginaw area, are among 11 people making the trip to the east African nation, leaving June 23 and taking a flight back home July 7.
The journey costs about $3,500 per person, but the students — in Delta’s registered nursing program — also are collecting money to help those in need in Kenya, where about 40 percent of the nation’s 45 million people are unemployed, according to 2013 statistics from www.cia.gov.
“A very small amount of money can do a lot over there,” said Morse, 23, daughter of Kathy Kelley and Ed Morse, both of Birch Run.
Small amounts of American money can pay for procedures in Kenya’s public hospitals — facilities used by the less wealthy and those without health insurance. Cesarean section surgery to deliver a baby costs about $50, while hip surgery costs about $20, according to the Delta students.
A child can be fed for one month for about $1.50 of American money, while $5 can feed a family of four for a month, they said.
“However, realize that (amount) meets very basic individual needs. Primarily maize — corn — and perhaps beans for one or two small meals per day,” said Kelli Prena, the trip coordinator and a Delta College nursing faculty member who has made several trips to Africa.
“Things that we take for granted, like sugar and salt, are actually luxuries for most of the Kenyan population,” Prena added. “We are accepting donations that we will be using to support the orphanages that we will be volunteering at. In the past we’ve used donations to purchase corn, beans, cabbage and firewood.”
Goodman and Morse have collected baby formula, toothpaste and toothbruses, infant clothes and blankets, and T-shirts bearing the names of area towns — such as Vassar, Millington, Reese and Caro — to give to the Kenyans.
“We’re definitely planning on bringing over candy for the kids,” Goodman said. “I heard they go crazy for any kind of sweets.”
Kenyan public hospitals are located inside former army barracks, according to Morse.
“What we think to be the right technique — like a sterile, clean technique — they have it in a different sense,” Morse said. “They don’t have the supplies to prevent the infections or sustain life that we easily could over here. Their (neonatal intensive care unit) is very basic. The premature babies don’t get the care that they would over here. Most of them are just kind of left to fend for themselves.”
Kenya’s economy “has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low,” the CIA website stated. Eighty-two percent of Kenyans are Christians, and English is the official language. The country’s population struggles with excess mortality due to AIDS, according to the website.
“I’m hoping to come back very humbled and appreciate things that most people don’t appreciate and take for granted,” Morse said. “From what we’ve heard, (Kenyans) are the most welcoming, friendly people who will give anything to other people. Even if they don’t have it or can’t afford to give it, they’ll still be welcoming.”
Though the journey to Kenya isn’t sponsored by Delta College, the school should be represented well by the visit, according to Goodman.
“I think this experience is going to be awesome for Delta because we have a sister college over there, called Tracom College (in Nakuru),” Goodman said. “It’s important to have (Kenyans) know that we care and we’re coming out there to represent our school.”
Donors wishing to help Goodman cover her trip costs may write a check to “Shelby Goodman” and mail it to: Shelby Goodman, 3796 Waltan Road, Vassar, MI 48768.
Those wishing to help Abby Morse or Courtney Licavoli cover their trip costs may make a check out in one of the students’ names and mail it to: Delta College in care of, Charlotte Schroeder, 1961 Delta Road, University Center, MI 48710.
Those wanting to donate to support the Kenyans in the hospital or orphanage can write a check to “Kelli Prena” and mail it to that same address at Delta.
Morse said she is “a little apprehensive about traveling on the other side of the world, but I feel like that extra caution will be a good, added thing to have.”
“There’s definitely going to be risk there,” Goodman added, “but wherever you go — if I go to New York City — there’s going to be that risk.”
Goodman and Morse are set to graduate from Delta’s registered nursing program in December. Goodman said the trip to Kenya “will make us into more culturally competent RNs, too.”
John Cook, a photographer who is Goodman’s stepfather, plans to help document the trip with photos.
“A lot of the Kenyan kids grow up not even knowing what they look like,” Goodman said. “So with John’s help we’re going to take photos and give them their own personal photo in a frame.”