FROM DUST TO GLORY IN SERVICE

The last 20 years have seen a drastic growth of Nairobi city and its environs. The population has literally exploded and the beautiful Savannah surrounding the core of the city has been swallowed up by high-rise apartments and gated communities. Retracing one’s steps sometimes leaves one with a strong sense of nostalgia.

This happened to me when I walked into St. Francis Community Hospital early this year. I had not laid eyes on the facility for 19 years and though I knew it had grown, I wasn’t prepared for the huge surprise that awaited me.

My first interaction with the facility was when it was a little dispensary at the end of the tarmac. As adolescents who had completed high school pending enrollment to the university, we had lots of free time to visit each other at home to just hang out. We teased each other mercilessly about our neighbourhoods as only teenagers can.

Visiting my friends living in the Kasarani area was no mean feat. There were very few public service vehicles plying the Kasarani-Mwiki route and we learnt to walk the five kilometers from the Kasarani roundabout to their home. St. Francis Community Hospital was always an important landmark. It marked the end of any form of urbanization for us. Beyond the health centre, the road was a dusty mess with little human settlement all the way to Mwiki and Njiru beyond. I always wondered who the institution served.

Two decades later, the dispensary has grown from a small collection of rooms attending to ante-natal mothers and vaccinating babies, to a level five teaching and referral hospital. The facility has modern diagnostic facilities, modern operating theatres, a critical care unit, a renal unit catering to patients with kidney problems, great in-patient facilities and an outpatient unit catering to hundreds of patients daily. It boasts a nursing school and is now proudly an internship training centre for doctors.

The growth of the hospital was not a walk in the park. It is a result of hard work, perseverance and great faith. The Little Sisters of Francis of Assissi, an Indigenous Congregation of a Catholic Diocesan, founded in 1923, are the force behind this hospital. The Diocesan was founded by Mother Mary Kevin Kearney, with the Mother House being domiciled Lugazi Diocese in Uganda.

Despite the Little Sisters mission covering East Africa, they did not really have a home anywhere else outside of Lugazi. While in Kenya, they would be housed as guests at the Flora Hostels on 5^th  Ngong Avenue. On one of their visits, they met the then ruling first family and Mrs. Kenyatta asked them where they would be buried when they died.

For a people accustomed to selfless service, this was a question that they had not given much thought. It was assumed that they would be buried in Lugazi, the only home they knew. The first family generously donated 32 acres of land in the current location in 1976. The land was meant to aid the mission to have a home, run a small farm to feed them as they focused on providing education and medical service. Despite having the land at their disposal, it took 12 years to settle in this beautiful but wild post.

The Mt. Laverna nursery school came first, with children drawn from far and wide due to the sparse population in the area. Over the years, it grew into a primary school and currently boasts a high school. Their education mission is well in.

The first semblance of medical service was a single desk in the dusty nursery school that served as the nurse station for the children when they got sick or hurt. The environment was hostile and it took a lot of spirit to survive. Despite the Little Sisters ordinarily leading a life of modesty in their mission, this little post was viewed as a hardship station and it took a lot of resilience to survive it.

From these humble beginnings, the desk grew to a dispensary, first registered in 1993 to provide outpatient service and antenatal care. It has been a long hard climb to the top but one that has been deeply satisfying. Nine years ago, in January 2009, it acquired the status of a level three hospital and this raised the bar of expectations.

Raising funds to add onto the infrastructure, procure equipment and engage human resources for health, has been an uphill task that the Little Sisters have unwaveringly worked towards. Their vision was clear and they have never once lost sight of their goal.

The growth has brought about a lot more to offer to the patient but the underlying community spirit has never changed. It is alive today just as much as it did two decades ago. The Little Sisters have continued to embrace their mission of reaching out to the less fortunate, the disabled, the youth and the sick. This week, they are running a week-long gynaecological medical camp at the hospital.

The little outpost at the end of the tarmac in the dust savannah now stands tall and proud. On the 25^th of this month, the little community of St. Francis gathers together to dedicate the brand-new hospital complex to the service of God. It is with a mix of both pride and humility that the Little Sisters take a walk down memory lane. They deserve every round of applause!