By Dale Avery
I returned from my second trip to Kenya this past week. Last year I shared some thoughts and learnings from my first trip. In July of 2015 I was a team lead for some very talented high school students, including my daughter. We worked construction projects and taught vacation bible school to elementary age school kids.
This year I was part of a Medical Team that was conducting a medical clinic for the high school, church and community we support in Nairobi. The team was twenty-nine people strong and included several doctors, nurses, pharmacy experienced personnel, and a couple of non-medical members including myself.
We stayed at the new high school where we did desk construction and painting last year. The high school opened just a few months ago. The school is located near the town of Ngong, in middle of land occupied by the Massai–the native tribe of Kenya. The high school already has ninety full time students who came from the feeder schools of Kibera and South B, located in the slums of Nairobi.
The Medical Team conducted clinics at the high school and the two schools in the slums. During the two and a half days the clinics were open we served over one thousand people, mostly children. I was honored to work in the pharmacy where I had the opportunity to interact with the patients as the pharmacist was filling the medications prescribed by the doctors. My main job was to package up the pills and pour the bulk liquid medicines into smaller containers. I will say I stayed busy the whole time we were open – in fact, one day we served six hundred people in the pharmacy alone.
Like last year, the visit to Kenya was impactful. The difference for me this year was the mission focus – providing necessary medical attention to those in need and with no means to pay. As I was packing the medicine it came over me I was not just putting pills into a package, but rather our doctors, nurses and pharmacists were providing something unobtainable that would have a long term impact on each person’s health and well-being.
As I said last year, I love the Kenyan people and God blessed each of us on the team by providing a way for us to serve in a small way with lasting effects. I ask each of you look for the small ways God is opening doors for you to serve, to impact His people for a brighter and healthier future. The opportunities in this community to serve our brothers and sisters are endless – won’t you take that step, make that time, reach across your street or your town to make a difference for each other.
Dale Avery, CPCU, is the assistant vice president – Enterprise Services at State Farm® Corporate Headquarters in Bloomington, Ill.
Avery began his career with State Farm in 1982 as a personal lines underwriter in Lincoln, Nebraska and assumed his current position in 2006. Avery, a native of Missouri, received his bachelor’s degree from Central Missouri State University. He earned his CPCU in 1991.
Dale resides in Bloomington with his wife, Laura and their two daughters; Megan and Jenna.
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