Get to know Mercy Muhadia Okova
Filed under: GEMx Regional Exchanges
Post by Mercy Muhadia Okova, a 5th-year medical student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
I spent most of my childhood days in the rural area, the western part of Kenya and my high school and college days in the capital city Nairobi. I have a taste of both rural and urban life which makes life easier for me because I know how to deal with people from both sides.
When I was young I would sing the common song of many children that when I grow up I would like to be a doctor. However, that dream made sense when my dad fell critically ill and I wanted to understand what was happening to him and help where I can. I was also motivated by a young lady: a medical doctor who was in her second year of residency in Neurosurgery. That made me believe young ladies can also excel in the field of medicine. I excelled in my final high school examination and got admitted to study medicine.
Unfortunately, my dad passed away while I was in my first year of study before I could barely understand what made him unwell. Later on, I understood and this fueled my passion to fight Non-communicable diseases(NCDs) by creating awareness on healthy lifestyle practices for prevention of Non-communicable diseases. I write articles concerning NCDs on my blog mercyokovaonncds.wordpress.com
I learned of the GEMx electives through my classmate and we met the coordinator in my school who guided me in applying for an elective at University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and got accepted to rotate in the Department of Family Medicine. I am glad to have met a very pleasant team lead by Professor Mergan Naidoo. The program is quite busy already learning a lot in the first week. I hope to share more experiences as the elective goes on.
Tags: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal