"My Dreams Were Shattered As A Child; Now I am In Med School And I Want To Give Back To Society."
By African Warrior Magazine Team
The first thing Jackline Muthoka did when she joined The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine (UCISOM ) was write: “Mom and dad are watching, make them proud” on the closet door of her apartment bedroom.
This was the silent promise to her long-deceased parents.Like most students from Africa, her journey to UCISOM was beset by numerous challenges that she only surmounted through old-fashioned grit, ambition, faith and unwavering support from friends, and her Kenyan and American guardians.
They say, ambition is the only currency that never depreciates, and Jackline is proof of the old maxim. Her journey starts from a humble village in Central Kenya, where she attended Ndera Primary School and Githunguri Girls High School. Her mother, who was a member of Parents Teachers Association, made Jackline realise the importance of education at an early age.“My mom worked closely with our teachers to make sure we did well and got help in areas that we needed improvement on,” Jackline says.Her father, worked with a transportation company and that kept him out of their lives mostly, even though he spent most weekends with them and bought all the family necessities for them.
This compact life will be rocked soon. Her mother died of pneumonia while she was in 7 th grade. Together with her sister, brother, and father, despite their young age, tried to lead a normal life. But fate had other plans. Five years later, her father succumbed to cardiac arrest.“My dreams were shattered and the thought of being an orphan destroyed me.
I didn’t have anyone to look up to anymore. I had lost everything! I questioned the God I knew to be all loving and caring and I didn’t know what to believe in anymore,” says Jackline.Thankfully, her uncle took them in, along with her sister and brother. Together with her uncle’s five children, it became a big family. The grandfather too stayed with them.
Jackline’s biggest worry was if the uncle will ever afford to pay the school fees for them; her siblings and two of her uncle’s children were in high school. “My uncle and aunt were and still are angels to us,” she says when she reflects on her life at that time.She would find another useful mentor at Githunguri High School, Mrs Nderi. Mrs Nderi would help her deal with depression that buffeted her and her sister when they lost their parents. She ensured that Jackline was properly counseled and offered the necessary therapy.“She is the reason that I am who I am today!” She provided the platform for me to learn to accept, live with, and can even comfortably talk about the loss and challenges I have gone through,” says a grateful Jackline.
After high school, she applied for several scholarships, in Kenya and internationally. She was afraid that her uncle may not afford higher education for all of them. Fortunately, she was accepted to almost all the scholarships she had applied for.She was sitting in a Civil Engineering class when she received the scholarship to study pre-medicine at Hope International University. She had been offered a scholarship by the Ministry of Labor and Works in Nairobi a few months before and had already started her classes.
It was her dream to study medicine, and was willing to take a longer route, by using the Engineering scholarship to gain knowledge and get a job that would allow her to pay for her medical school.“But God had a different plan though; He interrupted my plans and gave me a faster route,” she says.Coming to the United States was a tough process. While her tuition fees and living expenses were covered, she had to raise funds for her air ticket. When she called her aunt asking her what they were going to do, the aunt offered to sell part of their farm.“This made me cry. She was willing to do anything for me,” Jackline remembers.But this was not a viable option. Land selling takes forever, not to mention the bureaucracy and finding a willing buyer at a desirable cost within the short time timeframe.Her clan, the ‘Ivange family’, was called on by her family and they gathered together and invited other villagers for a fundraising (Harambee in Swahili).
Enough money was raised and she is living her dream in the United States.
Her first culture shock when she arrived in America was the ease of movement. The convenience of moving from point A to B, was new to her, coming from a city of endemic traffic.She chose to go to UCISOM, mostly because of the warm weather, having been raised in a warm country.“So far, I have loved my stay in California during my undergraduate years. I made lots of friends and California became my second home away from Kenya. I couldn’t imagine moving again to restart a new life elsewhere and so it was important for me to stay in my new ‘home’”, Jackline says.
Living in California exposed her to many schools, and Irvine was one of them. One of her mentors, Eloka Ikebudu, now a resident physician, is a graduate of UCI School of Medicine.Ikebedu spoke so well of the school leading Jackline to apply to join the school, where she would learn about their curriculum and the international ultrasound programs that the school encourages students to participate in.“After learning about the school, having friends that went there and the great reputation the school has, I was determined to join an amazing group of people. With hard work, determination, and God’s guidance, I was able to matriculate to UCI School of Medicine and I am humble and grateful to be here,” a proud Jackline says.Despite her success in joining Medical school, she misses home.
She is ever nostalgic about her mother country. But like every immigrant, she has to find a formula to deal with it.“I have surrounded myself with good friends who I look up to as family. They’ll come to my aid when I’m in need and shower me with love, always reminding me that they have my back,” she says.Jackline was motivated to study medicine by her background. She grew up with generous parents who shared every little thing they had with the less fortunate.
It was her dream to aim the highest and it was painful that they could attend her white coat ceremony.“But then God is a wonderful designer, I had my American parents with me- I was so happy that I couldn’t even cry. I was thankful to be surrounded by so many people that wanted the best for me- it was a bitter sweet moment,” she says, and this is what motivates her every day. “I live every day, most of the days as my last, trying to maximize every opportunity I have and to live my parent’s legacy,”She has not forgotten the Kavumbu village that came through in her hour of need, helping raise money for her air ticket.
“There were very old men and women who came to the fundraiser with their money wrapped in cloth and placed in a small bag. They were afraid to lose it. They gave everything they had so I could have an education. They really encourage me to be a monetary, spiritually and emotionally generous person. To pray for others, to love, and serve everyone that crosses my path, and to share the love of Christ with those who are seeking Him.” narrates a grateful Jackline.
One of the consistent upsets in her life comes in August, a month when she lost her mother. She suffers the most. She misses her mother and can be stuck in her apartment, doing nothing.
Giving back to society
Having been helped by the society so much, Jackline is investing in the society that raised her. And she has a full plate she is unpacking. She started the Kavumbu Water Project last year to address issues surrounding water safety, scarcity, poverty and limited education opportunities in her native home, Kavumbu, Machakos, located in the Eastern part of Nairobi.Part of the project involves tapping a ground water aquifer, purifying it and making it accessible to the villagers. The other part involves educating high school students on issues surrounding water safety and I will be selecting a few students to educate the community on how to safely handle water.
These students, who will be chosen based on financial need, will receive a scholarship that will enable them to complete their high school education debt free.Jackline is also organizing an ultrasound medical trip to Kenya this year. Along with other medical students from UCISOM, they will conduct a dehydration research using point of care ultrasound technology and then teach healthcare practitioners in Maasai Mara on how to use ultrasound to non-invasively detect and diagnose diseases.
They will also donate an ultrasound machine that the clinic will continue to use once they go back to the United States.While there, they will also teach primary and high school students on dehydration and water safety.To achieve this goal, she has been fundraising. In Mid-April, together with her group, she had raised close to $5,000 (about KES 500,000). The target for the medical supplies is $10,000 (KES 1m). But they have to raise a total of $28,000 (KES 2.8 M) for the entire ultrasound project.
Jackline is thankful to everyone who has contributed to her project. But donor funding is often a subject of scrutiny on how the monies are spent.
“I would like to assure everyone who has contributed that their funds will be used for the intended purposes,” assures Jackline.
Jackline remains eternally grateful to everyone who has held her hand through her arduous journey. Her team, her guardians, in Kenya and the United States, have all played an integral part of her journey.Her mentors such as Drs. Carol Major, MD, and Ellena Peterson, PhD have been her advisors, mentors, and cheerleaders since the first day of Medical school and continue to support her as she goes through her education. She is also thankful to her ‘parents’ Jose and Sarah Henry.