About Us

My name is Emily Brown. I became a nurse in 2010 and went on my first mission trip within months of getting my license. I have traveled around the world on volunteer trips, but I never found one that truly captured my heart. In 2019, as my dad neared retirement from his general surgery practice, we went on a surgical mission together. After that trip, I started thinking about how to build a program around my dad’s general surgery expertise. We just needed to find the right location for us. We found that location in January 2023: the Kinondo Kwetu Hospital in Diani, Kenya.  The small, modern community hospital was built by the family that built the Kinondo Kwetu Hotel.  They continue to support the hospital as part of their commitment to the community.

My dad and I coordinated our first self-planned mission trip for January of 2023. Local clinicians screened patients to determine their surgical needs and organized a schedule. Our volunteer team brought ten duffel bags of donated supplies so as not to take from Kinondo Kwetu Hospital. We volunteered for just over two weeks alongside local staff, and in that time we were able to provide over ninety free surgeries.

The Kinondo Kwetu Hospital staff and patients welcomed us with open arms and made the mission trip a huge success. We started a non-profit, Surgical Aid for Kenya, to support our efforts.  We are slowly building a volunteer network that has expanded the type and number of surgeries we are able to provide.  The goal of Surgical Aid for Kenya is to facilitate free surgeries to the people of Diani, support the Kinondo Kwetu Hospital through supply donations, and provide educational opportunities to the local staff.

We fell in love with Diani, the place and the people. It’s a dream come true to be able to step up and make a real and long-lasting difference in the community.