Visionary Philanthropic Travelers: Milton, Maurice and Fred Ochieng

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel Worldwide supports Visionary Philanthropic Travelers like Milton, Maurice and Fred Ochieng. In just one morning or afternoon you too can experience the success of the Ochieng Brothers efforts. Their project is in a close proximity to the Great Migration across the Serengetti Plains, fishing Lake Victoria or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. 10% of our profit from your private guided flying safari and your spare change go directly to support their work.

Exquisite Safaris Visionary Philanthropic Travellers and partners: Fred and Milton Ochieng interviewed by David Chamberlain.

Who are you, where do you come from, what are you attempting to accomplish?
My name is Frederick Otieno Ochieng and I am the third born in a family of six children. My brother Milton Oludhe Ochieng is currently in his third year of medical school at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine whereas I am in the first year class. We all grew up in Lwala, a rural village without running water or electricity, in Nyanza province of Kenya. To get to see a doctor, one walks five and a half miles down an unpaved road, then waits for public service vans, matatus, to take them on a bumpy twenty mile ride to the nearest government owned hospital. The lack of health facilities at times had tragic consequences. We vividly remember how one time, a pregnant mother who developed complications during labor had to be hauled in a neighbor's wheelbarrow to try to get her to the paved road then to the hospital, passed away en route. The body of the baby and the mother were returned to a wailing village by the same wheelbarrow. While growing up, we were always aware of the lack of health care in our village and surrounding communities. Both Milton and I got interested in medicine. With inspiration from a cross-cultural service trip to Nicaragua during his undergraduate years in Dartmouth College when they built a medical clinic, Milton was inspired to start a clinic in our village during his first year of medical school. He consulted via e-mail and phone with my ailing father, Mr. Erastus Ochieng. He spoke with me about the vision. In early 2005, while he and my father worked on the plans and details, he asked me to begin fundraising for the clinic. During a Navigators Northeast Conference at the end of January 2005, I gave an address to students and staff from some thirteen colleges and universities who raised $9,000 for the clinic.