In this post, I want to share a bit of history about Medical Education in Kijabe to give context to why your gifts to Friends of Kijabe matter so much!
Dr. Bill Barnett (surgeon) and Nettie Sinclair (nurse) worked for decades to launch accredited training in Kijabe.
I find themes in their writings (excerpts below) that apply today as we seek to build the new classroom building in Kijabe to accommodate 200 more students in coming year:
1. Desire for patients to come to know Jesus in Kijabe and at hospitals across Africa where Kijabe graduates will serve.
2. Provide top-level medical training.
3. Achieve sustainability through training of trainers.
4. Build expensive medical infrastructure (equipment and facilities) and recruit specialized staff for teaching.
5. A fear that the vision is so big (and costly) that it will be impossible!
6. A sense that the fulfillment of the vision is a miracle of God’s provision.
Much prayer and many partners caused their dreams to be fulfilled.
You can do the same for those in Kijabe today! How can you provide excellent medical education in Kijabe in 2025?
1. Make a donation to provide scholarship for a Kijabe student. You can support a specific program or provide a general donation through the online giving links below.
2. Build the new KCHS classroom building. Phase 1 opened in September and Phase 2 will follow a similar timeline to open in September 2025, allowing existing programs to grow and new courses to serve an additional 200+ students.
Click “Give” at the top right of the page for options to participate.
Dr. Bill Barnett
“Why are we here?,” Dr. Barnett wondered. “I can’t just be in Kijabe because of me medically. I could be doing medical work anywhere, whether it’s Kijabe or in the bush somewhere. The Lord must have some other purpose why he put us here. It was then that we realized that there were no [formally trained] African nurses, only missionary nurses. There was no one to train the nationals. Here was a country that was becoming independent [Kenya, 1963], and what was being done to prepare it to take care of itself? What would be the attitude of a new president, and what would his attitude be toward the missionaries? We must start training. The first way to start was to train nurses, not in a haphazard way, but to train at the RN level so they could train others. What we need is [Kenyan] nationals who love the Lord, who want to be nurses, and train at the top level. To send their own people to the northern provinces and do medical care. So the word went out that a crazy young doctor wanted to do training.“
“One day assigned to the hospital was a nurse from Scotland, Nettie Sinclair. She was the first one who came to me and to Laura and said, “you know I believe throughly God sent me to Kenya for one reason, to train nurses”. My goodness, this is the Lord’s will!
Nettie Sinclair
Vision: Train Kenyan Christian Nurses to a Government exam, bond them for 2 years to serve in AIC Health Units and then they could go to be the Lord’s ambassadors with other Health Service providers in Kenya and beyond or remain with African Inland Church. So whether we [missionary nurses] stayed or left, the bulk of the staff would be qualified nurses who could continue the ministry.’
1967: Among the requirements of the Kenya Nursing Council for a Nurses Training School were 120 beds (Kijabe had 65 beds!), Medical Consultants in General Surgery, Obstetrics, and Registered Nurse/Midwifery. At that time Kijabe had no funds, insufficient Registered Nurse/Midwives, insufficient Medical Consultants, inadequate patient attendances, etc. etc. The entire venture seemed impossible.
1980: By many miracles the AIC Central Medical Committee unanimously gave permission for Kijabe to pursue this programme, I was appointed as Principal Tutor to establish the programme and teach. By June 1980 we had prepared all the Nursing Council required documents, construction of the new hospital building was in progress, Kijabe had sufficient qualified nursing and medical staff, World Vision provided funding for all the equipment and furniture for the School of Nursing, the British Council had funded the purchase of books for the tutors’ library.