Medical Trainee Exchanges Strengthen Knowledge and Friendships
Ishani Shah, MD, is a third-year internal medicine-pediatrics (med-peds) resident at Indiana University School of Medicine. She will be chief resident during her final year of training. After graduation, she plans to work as a med-peds hospitalist with the goal of incorporating global health into a future practice. She was among the first trainees to complete a rotation at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital since the COVID pandemic began.
My time in Kenya was perhaps two of the most influential months of my residency career. The collegiality and friendships I formed with my Kenyan colleagues played a huge role in making this experience so enriching for me. We had a blast working together, sharing and growing from each other’s medical knowledge as well as learning about each other’s cultural customs, and learned to function as a cohesive team to provide great patient care.
Karoga is a Kiswahili word that literally means to “mix” or to “stir.” It is a Kenyan style of cooking w/ Indian cuisine that was first started when Indian immigrants came to Kenya as railroad workers many years ago. They would all gather as groups of people at the end of a long day and cook a large meal in one pot over an open flame together. This has now become a popular way of “family style cooking” in Kenya.
Bhupe’s is a fun place in Eldoret that hosts groups of people for Karoga nights and my co-resident group really enjoyed this activity! They provide all of the ingredients for the meal (pre-washed and pre-chopped!) and we get to do the fun part – the cooking! We did it once earlier as a group during our stay in Kenya, and because we had such a good time, we decided that we wanted to commemorate our very last day in Eldoret with another Karoga night. We cooked dinner as a group and invited our Kenyan colleagues to come join us for dinner/drinks this last day - we all hung out until late into the evening (as seen in the pictures)!
At this time, I do not know how global health will fit into my future, but after going to Kenya and having met so many incredible people, I am certainly inspired. Global health and service can be done in so many different ways, and I look forward to seeing how I can contribute in the future.
