Tenwek

Where is Tenwek?

Tenwek Hospital is located in Bomet, a town in Southwest Kenya (see map at right). It is approximately 145 miles from Nairobi, the nation’s capital city.

Bomet is the name of the town, which is also located in Bomet County (one of the 47 counties in Kenya). According to local government statics, Bomet County has a population of approximately 974,089 persons and is home to the Mara and Itare rivers that flow into Lake Victoria.

What is Tenwek?

Tenwek Hospital is a 361-bed, Level 6(b), Teaching and Referral Mission Hospital based in the Southwest region of Kenya. It serves members of the local community and patients from across East Africa (including neighboring countries Uganda and Tanzania). It is one of the few hospitals located outside of a capital city that offers high-level medical care.

In addition, Tenwek Hospital is home to a College of Health Services and Residency Training programs in several medical specialties, as well as a Nursing School, a Chaplaincy School, and a host of medical services. It also offers Community Health and Development outreach.

Tenwek enjoys partnerships with several Medical and Christian organizations, including: Africa Gospel Church, World Gospel Mission, Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK), Samaritan’s Purse, Friends of Tenwek, College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA), Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), and others.

Neurosurgery at Tenwek

As a medical missionary sent through World Medical Mission of Samaritan’s Purse, Fraser will serve as a full-time neurosurgeon at Tenwek Hospital. Here is a description (in his own words) of the work he will be doing there:

“As a Neurosurgeon at Tenwek, I will routinely perform vital neurosurgical procedures, train Kenyan neurosurgical residents, round on patients daily and take overnight call, and ultimately share the gospel through my work. As a Medical Ministry of the Africa Gospel Church, Tenwek is the main referral hospital for Southwest Kenya, and provides medical care that is compassionate and affordable for local residents.

The Neurosurgery program at Tenwek has been well-established through partnership with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACs), the creation of an approved East African residency program, and through the commitment of its first full-time neurosurgeon Dr. Will Copeland, who has been serving at Tenwek for the past 4 years with his family. Will has been a mentor to me, and we will work together for the first and last six months of my time at Tenwek.

Beyond the operating room, I enjoy writing and will relish the opportunity to embrace the academic side of neurosurgery at the hospital. There are regular presentations given by local and visiting staff members at Tenwek, grand rounds, and opportunities to contribute to research articles.

From my previous visit to Tenwek and Kijabe Hospital (also in Kenya), I have spent weeks in mission hospital settings, and am familiar with the struggles and joys that one can experience there. I know serving at Tenwek will mean working in a very different environment than where I’m used to operating in my current training program, and so I trust that God will provide what our Neurosurgery team, OR staff, and Tenwek nurses need in order to minister to the patients in our care.

Betsy and I also look forward to keeping you apprised of the work that God is doing through our presence Tenwek and your support. We welcome your engagement in whatever form you feel led — prayers, encouragement, financial contributions, institutional collaboration, equipment donations, and so forth.

We know God has great plans for Tenwek Hospital and the lives of every patient, family member, and visitor who enters its doors, and pray that through our work, they may firsthand experience how ‘we treat, but Jesus heals.'”