On Interns. . .

My first real touchpoint in Education at Kijabe wasn’t in a classroom – it wasn’t developing curricula or directing programs. It was walking alongside our interns. Evelyn asked me to be the intern mentor 11 years ago after a particularly challenging season with them. 

Intern year is one of the most demanding years in Kenyan medical training. Clinical Officer Interns arrive after three years of undergraduate training in Clinical Medicine and Surgery, while Medical Officer Interns come after seven years of medical school. Overnight, they adjust to call every fourth night, coordinating one of our four major clinical services over long weekends, making difficult decisions (under supervision), and discovering that medicine is as much about character and knowing when to ask questions as it is knowledge and hand skill. At the end they are true general practitioners – they can manage patients from birth to old age, deliver a baby, remove an appendix, set a bone, among many, many other things.

I have written about our interns over the years, and one of the most fun thing in twelve years in Kijabe has been watching where their journeys have taken them. Those timid, unsure interns are no longer interns – they are now Heads of Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, and Obstetrics. They are neurosurgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, medical directors at hospitals across Kenya, and my own colleagues in Pediatrics. They lead the PECCCO program, oversee our Pediatric Clinical Officers, serve as the clinical managers for outpatient in Kijabe, direct hospital quality initiatives, and coordinate Continuing Professional Development. One former intern now serves as the Principal Secretary for Health for Kenya, while another serves alongside him in that office.

Interns were my first friends in Kijabe and have become some of my longest confidants and advisors here Working with them reminds me daily that intern year is never just about one year—character and lessons formed there shape decades of service. That perspective makes my current role feel especially sacred. As the hospital has grown busier and busier, the demands placed on interns have only increased. . .and the balance between pushing them to resilience and growth and protecting their  hearts and minds from the moral injury and compassion fatigue lays heavily on my heart.

This year, we made significant changes to their rotation, to the ways they learn and are mentored, and to the way we orient them to intern year. We added monthly debriefs, mid-year bonding retreats, adjusted rotation days and strengthened mentorship.  This year’s group also came in with a vibrant and contagious energy. They were engaged and asking questions, leaning on each other from day one, advocating, and adjusting. Two of them had been here before – they had finished a Clinical Officer intern year and were returning 8 years later for a Medical Officer Intern year to do it all again.

A few weeks ago, we said goodbye to our last year’s interns on the roof, giving out awards to our outstanding mentors and outstanding interns. We reflected on what was hard, and what was good. On skills gained and friendships deepened. They acknowledged the countless moments that once seemed impossible but had now become routine. Then they passed the baton to the next class.

Every year I welcome our interns with Philippians 4:4–7. It is both a challenge and a promise. A challenge to rejoice always, to choose gentleness, to release anxiety, and to bring every request before the Father. And the promise that in all of the unexpected moment of the year that the Lord is near—that His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It is exactly the rhythm I hope defines these months.

And this year’s group was welcomed with a commissioning ceremony by the Christian Health Association of Kenya, and charged with not only excellent compassionate healthcare, but to carry the mantle of the Gospel to each of their patients. As we lit their candles, one of the interns had tears rolling down her face – intern year is the culmination of many years of study and many prayers and dreams. As I watched them, I wondered who in this class will become the next pediatrician, surgeon, educator, or national leader. But even more than that, I hope they learn to lean on Jesus through the journey wherever He leads them. 

We have only a brief season to shape them, yet that season echoes through decades of their career in medicine. It is a holy privilege to steward this year of their lives.

Please pray for our interns as they begin this journey. Pray that they would grow in wisdom, resilience, humility, and faith. And pray for us as we teach and mentor them—that we would faithfully shepherd this next generation, not only toward excellence in medicine, but toward Jesus Himself.