Sons of Lwala

In Lwala village,
you really don't belong
to your parents,
you belong to everybody.
- Milton Ochieng'

Today, I would like to tell you a story about two brothers (medical students at Vanderbilt University) and their dedication to help the people of the village that helped them.

Milton (small photo right) and Fred ( below left) Ochieng' were born in Lwala, Kenya. A rural village that lacks both electricity and running water, Lwala is located in Nyanza province bordering Lake Victoria. The 1500 villagers rely on rainwater and water from local springs and rivers for their water. The economy relies on farming, and most villagers grow a variety of crops and keep chickens, goats, cows, etc. The village's remote location and lack of infrastructure make it difficult for villagers to access good health care. The main mode of transportation is by bicycle, making the more than 25-mile trip to a doctor extremely difficult.

Milton and Fred are the second and third children of Erastus and Margaret Ochieng'. They have one older and one younger brother and two younger sisters. Their parents, both educators, took out loans so that the boys could attend the top boarding school in Kenya. Milton was one of two students from the high school to come to the United States through an exchange program with Brooks School in Andover, MA. He later applied to and was accepted by Dartmouth. The problem was he didn't have the plane fare to make the trip to the States. The people of Lwala sold crops, chickens and cows to raise the $900 for Milton's ticket. Their one request was that he not forget the village. The following year, Fred joined Milton at Dartmouth.

Their father, a biology and chemistry teacher, wanted to build a health clinic in Lwala to help area residents fight preventable diseases and bring health care to those in such desperate need. Unfortunately, both he and Margaret were dying of AIDs (Nyanza province has one of the highest rates of HIV in Kenya.), but he discussed it with Milton and Fred. When Milton became a medical student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville (class of '08), he began working to fulfill his father's vision, enlisting the help of various organizations and obtaining donations while taking a full class load. Fred joined him in medical school (class of '10) and also helped in fulfilling the promise they made. It was not easy for either of them.

Erastus and Margaret got the village and surrounding area behind the project, forming a committee comprised of members of all area tribes. Unfortunately, Margaret passed away early in 2004. As sick as he was, Erastus continued to work on the proposal but passed away one week before they broke ground for the clinic in 2005. Milton and Fred continued to work toward their goal, and the clinic finally opened in April, 2007, staffed by a few nurses and one physician's assistant. In its first eight months of operation, the staff treated 12,000 patients.

There is much more to this story than what I've told today. Two years ago, television reporter Barry Simmons met Milton and decided to quit his job to work on a documentary about the Lwala clinic. He left his job at WTVF-TV and, working with photographer Ian Montgomery (who still works at WTVF), traveled with Milton and Fred to Lwala and other places to document the fulfillment of the Ochieng' dream. Thursday evening, the documentary, Sons of Lwala, premiered to a crowd at TPAC (Click here for my post on TPAC.) in downtown Nashville.

The Kenyan musicians in the main photo performed at the premiere.

For more information on Sons of Lwala or to view the film's trailer, click here, and for more information on the project, click here.

Aside: Milton was the first person from Lwala to ever fly in a plane. After he graduates from medical school this year, he'll become a resident at a hospital in St. Louis.