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Return to Kenya

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: November 28, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - The nurse named Ann asked Shane Kingery a question he had already asked himself during the time he'd spent in Kenya doing mission work last summer.

"Would you ever consider coming back to Africa," Ann queried as the two sat in the stark, squat, cinderblock health clinic in the remote village of Maji Moto, several hours outside of Nairobi.

"I've thought about it," he replied.

"We could all use your help," Ann said, referring not just to her fellow Maji Moto residents but to her people as a whole.

"Well, I've been praying about it," Kingery said.

"I think you'll move here," Ann said.

"I think you're right," Kingery replied.

Kingery, a 25-year-old registered nurse at Brooksville Regional Hospital, recalled this exchange last week as he explained why he is so motivated to return to Africa - and to remain there for three years.

He is currently raising money with the goal to return by next summer through AfricaHope Kenya, a ministry of New Mission Systems International that positions Christians to address needs in Kenya and three other African countries.
Kingery will help coordinate AfricaHope's efforts to bolster its health services initiative in some of Kenya's most far-flung areas, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS education.

"I knew when I was leaving Kenya that I was going to return," Kingery said. "I realized more and more that the only things keeping me from going were fear and selfishness. First John, Chapter Four says, 'Perfect love drives out fear.' If this is what God wants me to do, I should have no fear."

Kingery, who was born in Dunedin and raised in Tarpon Springs, is no stranger to mission work. He's done shorter stints in Iceland and Jamaica.

"I've always had a heart for cultures in need," he said. "It kind of goes back to Christ's huge focus on people who didn't have and who were neglected."

But it was a mission trip to Haiti in 2000 that convinced him to change his career path.

He was an education major at Florida Christian College at the time with plans to be a writer or a teacher. But during his stay in Haiti, a man suffered a skull fracture.
Kingery was helping to build a health clinic but it wasn't yet functional, so the only option was to make the four-hour trip to the nearest hospital.

"I felt like if I became a nurse I would have a lot more to offer these people," Kingery said.
Kingery enrolled in Pasco-Hernando Community College and by 2003 had his first nursing job. He earned his RN degree in 2005.

AfricaHope focuses mainly on remote areas not typically reached by other non-government organizations, Kingery said.

The day Kingery arrived in Kenya last summer he met with Tim Mantai, the national leader of AfricaHope. He learned that AfricaHope already had several branches of its outreach - such as education development, food and water security and care for orphans - well-established.

But the health development and HIV/AIDS education program wasn't all it could be, Mantai told Kingery.
Kingery asked why.

"He said, 'We don't have a nurse yet,'" Kingery recalled. "Then he asked me what I did for a living. Without even batting an eye, he said, 'When are you moving to Kenya.'"
Kingery attends Christian Church in the Wildwood in Weeki Wachee. Associate pastor Joe Caputo described Kingery as "real and authentic in his love for people" and said he is "kind of wired" for service.

Kingery's trip to Kenya earlier this year was a necessary part of a divine plan to get him to go back for a longer commitment, Caputo said.

"I think God was setting him up for that," Caputo said. "But the way he's gone after it, no holds barred, is kind of amazing."

"Our commitment is to building Jesus-following communities," said Bel Munoz, co-director of human resources for New Mission Systems International, "and those communities are not going to be built unless we have people like Shane take that leap of faith to give of their time and talents to communities overseas."

The statistics and the stigma

The staggering statistics spur on Kingery.

There are nearly 40 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, according to the World Health Organization. Of those, some 27 million are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Kenya has an estimated 1.5 million people, including children, living with the disease. One estimate puts the number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in the country at 1.3 million.

One of the top priorities for Kingery will be to inform Kenyans about how the disease is passed from person to person.

"In our culture, people understand how it's transmitted and quite often that doesn't change their behavior," he said. "(Kenyans) don't have that luxury."
Kingery also will help make sure people with the disease get the treatment they need.

There will be challenges. The disease is still heavily stigmatized in Africa, and so simply getting people to talk about it can be considered progress.
Kingery acknowledged that as "a rich, white American," he can only be so effective. One of his goals will be to empower the more than 20 Kenyan nationals already working with AfricaHope "so when we go out into their communities, it's them, it's their peers, delivering this message."

He also acknowledged that, while delivering a Christian message entails encouraging abstinence until marriage, reality requires going further than that.

"While the reality that HIV is 100% preventable with abstinence, there are multiple complex issues surrounding the issue that often need to be considered before preventative education can begin," he said. "For example, one needs to fully understand cultural and personal ethics systems before trying to impart education."

It means informing Kenyans about how condoms degrade quickly in the desert environment, he said, and talking about relationships between spouses and promiscuity.

Making up his mind to move to Africa is only part of the challenge. Kingery needs to raise $46,000 to move. That includes the cost of a car - which is exorbitant in Kenya - living quarters, and six months of lessons in the Swahili language, among other costs.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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