Katie Main ’13 and other Linfield students provided free healthcare and food for thousands of impoverished and malnourished Kenyans, including orphaned children, as part of a service-learning course taught by Professors Tara Lepp and Michael Leahy.
During Linfield’s four-week January Term, 11 students traveled to Nairobi and Eldoret, Kenya where they provided services for 2,700 people. They partnered with Open Arms International (OAI) and worked alongside local medical students to give free medical care to people in rural areas of Eldoret.
Students pitched tents, prepared medicines and set up rough-shod medical clinics, where they recorded blood pressure, heart rates and temperatures. They taught healthcare practices and first aid to Open Arms Kenyan staff, mothers from the Kambi Teso slum and street children, and free food was provided for children during four days of clinics in the slum and at a local school.
More than 100 students participated in on-site study programs during Linfield’s January Term, a four-week period of concentrated study that allows students to focus on a single course, with many classes held in locations around the world. The program is designed to develop global awareness and cultural understanding.
Linfield is in the top 25 programs in the country for participation in study abroad, and the school pays roundtrip airfare from Portland for each student’s first trip.
Leahy teaches health sciences and Lepp teaches health and human performance at Linfield. They presented lectures at the Grand Rounds for the Moi University School of Medicine in Eldoret, Kenya.
Washington Enterprise News recognizes Katie Main
KPTV Fox News recognizes Professor Tara Lepp
