International Clinical Mission Trips

Nursing students experience hands-on clinical training and utilize nursing skills while providing needed services and health education in countries like Rwanda, Kenya, and Eswatini.

For more information, email internationalclinical@liberty.edu.

Rwanda

Students from the School of Nursing can spend their spring break in Rwanda serving in partnership with World Help, Gleaning for the World, Rwandan Hugs, and the Anglican Church of Rwanda.

Nursing students will work in the Mont Cyangugu Clinic along with their nursing professors, and provide two days of community health education training to 80 village leaders, some who represent up to 17,000 village people. The team’s goal will be to assess and educate the villages on basic disease prevention and sanitation. One of the most rewarding things the nursing team is able to teach the people is the basic need for hand washing and sterilization of their water. Many of these people get their water from a swamp, and they use that same water to wash their hands, drink, and bathe. Gastrointestinal disease prevention is one of the primary focuses.

While there, the team provides the village leaders with supplies to build a step-and-wash, which allows for individual hand washing where plumbing is not a viable resource. Residents step on a stick that is tied to a rope, tipping a jug of water down and pouring it into their hands. The goal is that every single home visited will not only build a new wash system but be able to use it proficiently. After serving at the clinic, the team will canoe to Nkombo Island, where 20,000 children live. While on the island, students will feed more than 700 children (who normally only eat two days a week), administer medication for deworming, hand out multivitamins, and provide treatment for their various wounds. Additionally, the team will perform HIV screenings.

In the School of Nursing, we say often that we are the hands and feet, the heart of Christ to a hurting world. Our prayer going into the trip is from Ephesians – that God would open the eyes of our hearts, that He would break our heart with the things that break His heart, and that He would accomplish this in and through us while in Rwanda. Our students will be able to see diseases that we do not see here in the United States, and they will learn many skills that they can apply as they continue studying.

Kenya

The Liberty University Nursing trip to Kenya involves coming alongside and supporting the Nairobi Happy Life Children’s Home, Jesse Kay Hospital, and the Christian residential school in Juja, Kenya. Under the guidance of nursing faculty and collaboration with Kenyan staff, students will earn all required pediatric clinical hours over the ten days of Spring Break.

The children’s home has rescued over 1000 babies from dumps, sewers, and substance abuse caused by poverty and desperation.

God commands us in Luke 18:16, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” In this ministry, we seek to minister to all those we encounter, from the children to the nurses and staff with whom we will serve.

Students provide medical care to over 1,000 patients through free community clinics and conduct health assessments of the babies and school-aged children at the residential Christian school. Students will also have the opportunity to worship in a Kenyan church, and spend time in the city of Nairobi and some rural areas of Kenya. They will enjoy experiencing the natural beauty and the thrill of seeing the wildlife of Kenya.

Get more information at Happy Life Ministries

Eswatini

Students from the School of Nursing can spend their Spring Break in Eswatini serving the people of Eswatini.

Partnering with The Luke Commission (TLC), the students will work alongside members of the healthcare team on the Miracle Campus and in public health outreach serving the people of Eswatini. The Luke Commission has been serving the most isolated and underserved communities of Eswatini since 2005 with the motto of “Every Last One.” All of their patients are considered VIPs (Very Important Patients) and are treated as if they were our own father, mother brother, sister, or child. Through the staff’s resilience and innovation, The Luke Commission has made many advances in healthcare and has persevered through many challenging obstacles.

The Luke Commission was founded in 2005 at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Eswatini. At that time, there was no treatment for HIV/AIDS in Eswatini. The founders of TLC, Harry and Echo VanderWal, moved their young family to Eswatini with the goal of providing comprehensive and compassionate care to as many as possible.  Almost two decades later, TLC is the leading healthcare provider in the country. On average, The Luke Commission serves over 300,000 VIPs annually and employs over 700 staff (97% local Eswatini). Services range from mobile health outreach, health screenings, surgery, inpatient hospital care, and snakebite treatment.