Destination Africa: AdventHealth Daytona Beach Employees’ Mission Trip in Kenya

Team members from AdventHealth Daytona Beach joined with the Daytona Beach Seventh-day Adventist Church to embark on a mission trip to Africa.

From Feb. 28 to March 15, the AdventHealth Daytona Beach medical team cared for thousands during medical clinics in the villages throughout Kenya.

“The need for medical care in the community was overwhelming. In my 27 years of nursing, these were some of the worst cases I had ever seen,” said Linda Misko, a registered nurse and director of education for AdventHealth Daytona Beach. “Our team cared for patients with terrible wounds, with maggots and worms. Many had extremely high fevers of over 104 degrees and there were so many underdeveloped children. We also encountered some extremely unique conditions, including gigantism and congenital backward legs. The team did our best to offer treatments and comforts to the community, making a difference in countless lives through medical services and intervention.”

The mission work also extended beyond health care.

While abroad, a construction team worked on the Kiutine Seventh-day Adventist School, a boarding school with over 200 secondary students.

Thanks to the generous donations from AdventHealth Daytona Beach employees and family members, as well as community partners such as Walgreens Store #3814 in Ormond Beach, the manager of the Dollar Tree in Palm Coast, and various hospital vendors, the hospital gave the locals sunglasses, eyeglasses, toothbrushes, toothpaste, as well as suitcases full of clothes and toys.

“Our time in Kenya was an incredible, amazing and humbling experience that truly made a difference in countless lives,” concluded Misko.

While the team was there, they realized the top contributing factor to most all of the health problems the villagers faced is a lack of clean water.

“At the community wells, you have thousands of people going there every day, trying to get water. People ranging from an 80-year-old elderly woman to 6-year-old children have to walk more than 30 miles each day to visit a well and then carry water home in heavy containers, causing terrible back pain,” Misko said. “Seeing this for ourselves, we wanted to do more to help and we are already planning another trip back to Kenya to build a well.”