Peter's Story (continued)
At twelve Peter left his family to move to another village to live with his maternal grandmother'since she allowed him to pursue his educational goals. He knew by then that he wanted to become a doctor. His goal was to help people in need of medical services in parts of the world like his own, where there were none. His parents died of undiagnosed disease'neither ever having received any medical attention; the same was true for six of his ten siblings. Peter did not want this to happen to other people. He didn't want any more of his family or countrymen to die from illnesses which are preventable or curable. This drove him to work ceaselessly at his schooling. He focused on nothing but the dream that he would become a doctor so he could help families like his own.
At age 12, an American couple (volunteering at a neighboring village clinic) 'discovered' Peter and provided means for him to finish elementary school. He repaid them by organizing and performing skits at various functions to raise awareness about health issues. He studied ceaselessly, often spending all night at the school and performing odd jobs to earn money for paraffin so he could study by lamplight. At the end of grammar school Peter took the national exams and emerged as the number one student in his province. This achievement afforded him a scholarship to study at Kenya's premier high school in Nairobi, a nine-hour ride from his village.
At Starehe Boys Centre, Peter continued working hard to honor his parents for the start they had given him in life. He rose to various leadership positions: school prefect, student-in-charge of the school clinic, chairman of various clubs, etc. While working within these stations, he was further confronted with the medical crises of his country. In 1998 a blast rattled his school and sirens filled the city; the U.S. Embassy had been bombed, and as the student-in-charge, he gathered supplies and a crew and rushed to the scene to pull bodies from the rubble. Tragedies are commonplace in Nairobi and were part and parcel with his school responsibilities: tending to children hit by trucks on their way to class, or nursing fellow students in advanced stages of cancer and leukemia. When villages were struck with cholera, Peter went to the quarantined areas to provide care. At 17, he traveled with the Ministry of Health to regional schools to teach AIDS awareness. At 18 he opened a small village grocery'with a 'welfare' area dedicated to the sustenance widows and orphans - the only such amenity in Muhuru Bay.
After sitting exams, Peter graduated his O-levels and was awarded places at both the University of Nairobi and the University of Washington. He chose to come to the West, he says, so he could enjoy the most relevant, hands-on, and technologically advanced education around. He is currently studying Psychology and pre-medicine at the UW. The idea for him is to learn how things are done in the developed world, so he can carry that knowledge back to Africa; he wants to help lead Africa into the post-modern world, so she can begin to grow a strong infrastructure of leadership.
As if all this weren't enough, in August of 2005, Peter merged his two loves: Africa and medicine. Peter's greatest desire is to create awareness of the suffering of these rural communities; his overarching goal is to build and run hospitals, health centers, and clinics after finishing his medical training'but he couldn't wait that long. The need is now. He couldn't bear any longer to watch as his family and friends back home lived without access to trained doctors, or to sit and watch as deaths in his village, and those around it, continued unabated.
This is no longer the case - at least not in Muhuru Bay, Kenya. While returning home to marry his American bride in a traditional village ceremony, Peter opened his very first medical clinic; in one of those hardest hit areas of rural Africa he had long dreamed of helping.
August 16, 2005 saw the grand opening of Mama Maria Kenya'a grassroots organization dedicated to providing developing countries replicable and self-sustaining programs to advance the most vital aspects of village health, education and development. Peter built Mama Maria around the idea of not simply providing basic medical help for those ravaged by poverty and disease, but to provide opportunities for self-sufficiency for those most affected by it.
Peter's little Mama Maria organization had a miraculous start - within months of its conception he had put together a powerful board (including the Attorney General of the State of Washington, Rob McKenna, in advisory capacity), and had raised over $20K of funds and supplies'enough to get set up as a 501(c)3 in the States, and to get off the ground in Kenya.
But best of all, Peter opened the doors to his first actual health care clinic in Africa - which has seen resounding success. The response from the community has been overwhelming. Between the people who have received employment from Mama Maria, and those who have benefited from its services (the first three weeks they averaged 100 patients daily), each day his dream is one step closer to realization. While it is a constant struggle for Peter to juggle time, school, family, and funds, he has found a way to make great things happen so far, and knows a way will be provided for him to continue his dreams in the future. In Muhuru Bay, and beyond.