Penda Health

Now that I know what I'm actually doing in Kenya, I can tell you! I'm working at a company called Penda Health. Penda means love, and yes, it's a company! We are not a free clinic and actually make profit from 90% of our patients/customers. As someone who has never had an interest in business, marketing, or anything of the sort, it's been really amazing to get be part of a start up company.

It may seem odd for our clinic to be for-profit especially in a country like Kenya, but its actually brilliant! There are several reasons for it, the most important one is sustainability. Free things are just not sustainable, and the key to good healthcare is that it's available. The amazing thing is that healthcare makes for incredible business (as people in the US already know!), and if you have a good product or service people will pay for it. So the key to our model is that we offer the best medical service in all of Kenya (that's my job!), and unlike any other place in Kenya, we are friendly to our patients! A second reason for our model is that we think if our business is a success, others will want to copy our model, and soon there will be quality, friendly healthcare all over Kenya!!! Seems idealistic right? In February we saw 720 paying patients at our clinic!!! Obviously, there are many people in Kenya who are too poor to pay for our services despite them being very affordable. But most people can and will, as long as they think our service is worth it!

The only real problem with our clinic is that none of the founders have any sort of medical background (the woman in charge of our medical program is married to a freshly graduated doctor, if that counts), so our medical quality has been very slow to develop and improve. Basically, I have my work cut out, so much, that 4 months is seeming way too short! That may seem like a big problem, but the founders of Penda are truly incredible human beings who can make anything be at least good! Plus, medical care in Kenya is so terrible that it doesn't take much to offer a better option.

Perhaps the best part of Penda is that the people are all amazing and truly dedicated to great work! They've all been so welcoming and kind, I seriously feel like I could stay here forever! They've already found me a few dozen Kenyan husbands! Being single in Kenya means everyone gets to tease you, all the time!

I really wish you all could come visit! Its really amazing! I'm already sad about the day I have to leave!

Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PendaHealth

Read our blog: http://pendahealth.wordpress.com/our-blog/

Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PendaHealth/