Our journey across western Kenya spanned three regions: Webuye (the dry lowlands), Bomet (the wet highlands), and Maasai Mara (the savannah wilderness). In Webuye and Bomet, we set up medical clinics in a different nearby village each day, providing care to an average of 500 patients daily. Clinical treatment ranged from wound care, to cold-and-flu, to chronic illness. At the conclusion of our medical work, we traveled through the remote villages of the Maasai to embark on a safari across the African savannah at the Tanzanian border.

Webuye and Bomet showed me the heart of Kenya’s people (many of which I still speak to today) while the Maasai Mara displayed the soul of its wildlife, from zebras to leopards to wildabeast. As my first experience traveling across the world, it left a lasting mark, revealing that the people on the other side of the planet were not remarkably different from myself. More importantly, it instilled in me a voracious desire to always lead with service, knowing that all else—the logistics, supplies, funding, and even luck—would follow. To this day, I believe the only work worth pursuing and the only actions “with teeth” are those which lift up your neighbor.