Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid.
Voice 2
And I’m Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
In the year 2000, Milton Ochieng left the small village of Lwala, in Kenya. He was travelling to study in the United States. He did not have much money, but his village helped to pay for his trip. The people hoped that he would return to help with the health of the people in the village. Soon his brother Fred would join him too. But would they forget their home and their community?
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on these brothers, Milton and Fred Ochieng, and the Lwala medical clinic in Kenya. Through health care and education, they are changing the future of their village.
Voice 1
Milton and Fred grew up in Lwala village, in Kenya. The people in Lwala village did not have much money. Most people grew food or raised animals to feed their families. They sold the extra food for money. The homes in the village did not have electricity or pipes to carry water. And the closest hospital was a thirty three kilometer walk away. Health care was a great need. Many people died from preventable diseases, because they could not travel to the hospital.
Voice 2
Milton and Fred’s parents were teachers. Their mother, Margaret, taught primary school. Their father, Erastus, taught chemistry and biology at a secondary school. Erastus tried to help people in the village. He read medical books and dreamed of starting a medical clinic, a health centre.
Voice 1
And the Ochiengs valued education. They wanted a good education for their children. They did not have very much money, so they borrowed money to send Milton and Fred to a good school. Milton went to one of the best secondary schools in Kenya. He did very well in school. Fred followed him a year later.
Voice 2
Because they worked so hard at school, the brothers had many good chances and opportunities. In his third year of secondary school, Milton was given a great offer. He was invited to study in the United States for a year. Milton enjoyed attending school there. When the year was over he returned to Lwala. But he applied to continue his education at Dartmouth College in the United States. He was accepted to study there. But there was only one problem. Milton’s family did not have the money for an airplane ticket to the United States.
Voice 1
People from Lwala wanted to help. Villagers sold crops, chickens, and cows to collect money. In the end, they collected nine hundred dollars. They gave it to Milton as a gift. But they asked for one thing in return. They asked that Milton not forget about his village. A year later, Fred joined Milton at Dartmouth. Milton studied biochemistry, and Fred studied biophysical chemistry.
Voice 2
One winter, Milton travelled to Nicaragua with some other students from Dartmouth. There, the students helped a small village build a health clinic. Milton saw many similarities between his village in Kenya and this one in Nicaragua. He also saw how college students could make a difference by just giving some time and money. When he returned to the United States he knew what he had to do. He was going to make his father’s dream come true. He was going to build a clinic in Lwala.
Voice 1
A few years later Milton received a scholarship to Vanderbilt Medical School. The school would pay for all of his costs. Vanderbilt is a well–known school in the city of Nashville, in the United States. Fred also received a scholarship to the same school. The brothers were on their way to becoming doctors.
Voice 2
Soon, Milton started collecting money to build the medical clinic in Lwala. He asked many different people and organizations in Nashville to help him. When Fred arrived at Vanderbilt, he helped too.
Voice 1
Back in Lwala, the brothers’ parents were working too. They got people from the village to work together to plan for the clinic. These people would build the clinic. And they would operate the clinic once it was built. But Mr. and Mrs. Ochieng were sick. They were dying of AIDS.
Voice 2
Even though their parents were sick, the brothers continued to work. They made a building plan. They collected enough money to start building. But only one month before they started building the clinic, the boys’ father died. Their mother had died the year before. They did not see the clinic finished. Milton and Fred decided that they must keep working on the clinic.
Voice 1
Milton and Fred continued studying and continued collecting money to finish the clinic. And others helped too. Soon, a local baseball team was collecting money at their games. Christian music group Jars of Clay also collected money at their performances. School children saved coins for the clinic. Even United States Senator Bill Frist, a government official, helped collect money for the clinic.
Voice 2
A local Nashville news reporter named Barry Simmons heard the brothers’ story. He was amazed at what the brothers were doing. He produced a few television pieces about the brothers. But he could not stop there. Mr. Simmons left his job as a reporter to produce a documentary film about the brothers.
Voice 1
Simmons followed the brothers and filmed their lives. He filmed them studying and working to collect money. He even followed them to Lwala where people were working on the clinic.
Voice 2
On April 2, 2007 the Lwala health clinic finally opened its doors. The brothers named the clinic the Erastus Ochieng Memorial Health Center. Their father’s dream had finally come true. Since the clinic opened, it has served over fifteen hundred [1,500] patients every month.
Voice 1
But the Ochieng brothers did more than just start the health clinic. They helped form the Lwala Community Alliance. This group works to make the lives of people in the village better. The group teaches children of all ages. It gives village members small loans of money for projects. Milton thanks God for their success.
Voice 3
“I think a lot of things that have happened show God’s goodness – including the fact that we have now been open for months and we are continuing to provide important services to a group of people who would be suffering without it. When God is on your side, God will win over the difficulties.”
Voice 2
Because of the work of Milton and Fred Ochieng, lives continue to improve in Lwala. The village of Lwala invested in the brothers. And the brothers gave back. Milton believes it was important to return to help Lwala. Milton described it this way:
Voice 3
“In Lwala village, you do not really belong to your parents. You belong to everybody.”
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