Jessie's Kenyan Experience

Jessie was one of the adults in the July expedition group.  Her work experience involves Occupational Therapy, so working with the kids at the Sean Michels School for Special Needs Children was a natural fit.  She found herself stepping outside the comfortable during her two weeks in Kenya, and that experience changed her:

Jessie with students at the SMS

My trip to Africa with Koins was nothing less than amazing.  Throughout my life I have not been much of a spiritual person. This trip showed me there is more that is out there that I have yet to recognize. I was able to witness and experience a kind of divine intervention that I previously would have never acknowledged.  One such experience happened one day when I was working in the clinic. Naomi came, got me out of the patient screening room, and told me my help was needed in another area. I had no idea what I was going to be doing until we walked into the room where they were doing wound care.  Once I became aware of what I would be helping with, I became quite alarmed. I have always been a very squeamish person and have been known to faint at the site of blood. My initial reaction quickly changed as a sense of calmness prevailed over me. I stayed and assisted with treating, cleaning, and bandaging of wounds for over an hour that day. I did have a few incidents where I felt a little woozy and doubted my ability to continue with the process of cleaning out wounds but the feeling very quickly passed and I was able to continue. This is just one example of an incredible ability to defy the boundaries of my comfort zone while in Africa.  

Painting the new classroom at Miyani

Jessie playing with SMS Students

Greeting students at Miyani Primary school

Jessie and one of the sweet SMS girls

Jessie shadowing Betty

Pounding corn with a baby on your back, all in a days work in Kenya

Life as I knew it before Kenya (B.K.) has changed. I am still just on the cusp of trying to accept, process and understand it all. This trip was everything I had hoped for, needed, and much, much more than I could have ever expected. I met some remarkable people who have become lifelong friends.  I am so excited about the future and am eager to see what it has to bring. Thank you Bret, Ingrid, Jami, Sue, Cindy, Leah and all the locals at Koins for opening  up, making possible and sharing this experience with all of us who are so privileged to have taken part in this expedition. I know every single person who was on this trip has been touched deeply by the experiences we had and shared while in Kenya.