The pros of running an organization like MMK for me is that I get to meet and know incredible people; like Martha and Greg. Dr Martha Ingles completed her residency in rural family medicine based out of the University of Calgary in Canada. She and Greg Erikson got married in May 2010. For their wedding, Martha and Greg requested family and friends to build a well in a small Kenyan village called Dundori, in lieu of wedding gifts. That well have served Dundori and the surrounding communities with water, saving a lot of people especially children who would have otherwise been exposed to contaminated water and the killer water borne diseases.

Martha and Greg contacted MMK because they wanted to take a trip to Kenya but they also wanted to spend some of their time in Kenya serving the Kenyan communities with their professional services. They both joined MMK in the 2013 trip where Martha and Dr Alfred Saigero led the group of nurses and pharmacists that undertook four medical outreaches in different locations that ranged from the slums outside Nairobi, to the jungles of Shompole, and in between jigger project at Turbo village, and an outreach at Olo Olamutia village. During the whole trip, Martha rose up to the challenge and was not fazed by anything, even the prospect of delivering a new 13y/o mother who was having a complicated labor. She was a great resource for the other team members and we were all drawn by her expertise and her impeccable bedside manners, maintaining her cool and calm composure despite some very challenging and extremely stressful situations.

“The number one medication that I prescribed in Kenya was Tylenol for various musculo-skeletal pain whether the complain is ‘I was hit by a giraffe’, or my back hurts because I have been carrying loads of water, firewood and babies on my back for years…” Martha shares with potential volunteers. Indeed more than 75% of musculoskeletal issues like joint pain, cervical neck pain, shoulder pain or chronic back pain occurs as a result of the locals transporting huge gallons of water from the river for long distances tied up to their backs and other heavy merchandise like firewood that the women need to prepare food.

We are lucky to have Martha and Greg  join us again this year for the 2014 trip and we hope to continue working closely with both of them in the future.