BOSIRE: From humble beginnings to referral facility

When I walked into St Francis Community Hospital in Kasarani, Nairobi earlier this year, I knew it must have grown, but I wasn’t prepared for the huge surprise that awaited me.

My first interaction with the facility was 19 years ago, when it was a little dispensary at the end of the tarmac.

As adolescents who had completed high school pending enrollment to the university, we had lots of free time to visit each other at home and hang out. We teased each other mercilessly about our neighbourhoods as only teenagers can.

Visiting my friends in Kasarani was no mean feat. There were very few public service vehicles plying the Kasarani-Mwiki route and we learnt to walk the five kilometres from the roundabout to their home.

St Francis Community Hospital was an important landmark. It marked the end of any form of urbanisation. Beyond the health centre, the road was a dusty mess with little human settlement all the way to Mwiki and Njiru. I always wondered who the institution served.

Two decades later, the dispensary has grown from a small collection of rooms attending to antenatal mothers and vaccinating babies, to a level five teaching and referral hospital.

The facility has modern diagnostic facilities, operating theatres, a critical care unit, a renal unit, in-patient facilities and an outpatient unit catering to hundreds of patients daily. It boasts a nursing school and is now proudly an internship training centre for doctors.

GROWTH

The growth of the hospital was not a walk in the park. It was a result of hard work, perseverance and great faith.

The Little Sisters of Francis of Assissi, an indigenous congregation of a Catholic Diocese, founded in 1923, are the force behind this hospital. The diocese was founded by Mother Mary Kevin Kearney, with the Mother House being domiciled in Lugazi Diocese in Uganda.

Despite the Little Sisters mission covering East Africa, they did not really have a home anywhere outside of Lugazi.

While in Kenya, they would be housed as guests at the Flora Hostels on 5th Ngong Avenue in Nairobi. On one of their visits, they met the then ruling first family and Mama Ngina Kenyatta asked them where they would be buried when they died.

For a people accustomed to selfless service, this was a question that they had not given much thought. It was assumed that they would be buried in Lugazi, the only home they knew.

The first family donated 32 acres of land in the current location in 1976. The land was meant to provide the mission with a home and a small farm to feed them as they focused on providing education and medical service.

12 YEARS

Despite having land at their disposal, it took 12 years to settle in this beautiful, but wild post.

The Mt Laverna Nursery school came first, with children drawn from far and wide due to the sparse population in the area. Over the years, it grew into a primary school and currently boasts a high school.

The first semblance of medical service was a single desk in the dusty nursery school that served as the nurse station for the children when they got sick or hurt.

The environment was hostile and it took a lot of spirit to survive. Despite the Little Sisters leading a life of modesty in their mission, this little post was viewed as a hardship station and it took a lot of resilience to survive.

From these humble beginnings, the desk grew to a dispensary, first registered in 1993 to provide outpatient services and antenatal care. Nine years ago, in January 2009, it acquired the status of a level three hospital.

Raising funds to add onto the infrastructure, procure equipment and engage human resources for health, has been an uphill task that the Little Sisters have unwaveringly worked towards.

Their vision was clear and they have never once lost sight of their goal. The Little Sisters have continued to embrace their mission of reaching out to the less fortunate, the disabled, the youth and the sick. This week, they are running a week-long gynaecological medical camp at the hospital.

The little outpost at the end of the tarmac in the dust savannah now stands tall and proud.

On the 25th of this month, the little community of St Francis will gather to dedicate the brand-new hospital complex to the service of God.

It is with a mix of both pride and humility that the Little Sisters will take a walk down memory lane.