I had the pleasure of spending time with the Head of Surgery at Kijabe Hospital – Peter Bird. He’s an Aussie from Melbourne who’s given up the luxury of the west to help train Kenyan surgeons. Kenya is a long way behind the west in terms of specialist surgeons, so Peter and others are giving their lives away for the sake of others. Add to this the cost on their families they bring with them, and the effect on their families and friends they leave behind for years at a time, these people are truly amazing.
Kijabe Hospital is a major regional hospital, where people come from far and wide to access the expert medical care they receive from a dedicated team of staff, made up predominantly of Kenyan admin, nurses, doctors and surgeons. Kijabe’s 9 theaters see almost 10,000 surgeries a year, making it almost the busiest regional hospital in Kenya. Almost all of the equipment, furniture, beds, medicines and supplies have been donated – including plenty from renovated wards in my surrounding suburbs of hometown Melbourne.
I was totally blown away by the commitment to ‘world-class’ care the surgeons at Kijabe strive for, and their knowledge of the latest trends in medicine from all over the world. No bush medicine going on here folks!
I was there to shoot video, but managed to spend a little time framing up a few stills whilst battling jet-lag. Enjoy.
Lovely images Peter. Image #9 is truly extraordinary.
thanks Jon – mixture of being ready and luck…
Amazing shots Peter, I remember when the Bird family left for Kenya, seems like so long ago now. That’s what I call faith in action!!
Wonderful set, Peter. You managed to achieve really interesting lighting in a place where it was probably pretty crappy. Nice.
Awesome set and work.
I was wondering what lenses and equipment you used for these shots. Thanks for these, they really are great!
Hi Cameron, These were shot with a Canon 5DII. Lenses for these shots were 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8, 85/1.2.
cheers
peter