Penninah "Penny" Ndungu (pronounced Puh-nee-nah Dunn-goo) works with a diverse patient population in her role as assistant nurse manager on the orthopedics/neurology telemetry floor at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.
“We like to say that if you can work on this floor, you can work anywhere, because we see everything,” Ndungu said.
She considers it great preparation for her other nursing job. For about three weeks each summer, Ndungu runs a free health clinic outside of Nairobi, Kenya, near where she and her husband grew up.
Ndungu earned a practical nursing degree in Kenya 26 years ago and practiced there for 12 years.
“I chose nursing because this seemed like the best way to help people in need,” she said. “There is so little access to medical services in Kenya.”
Ndungu and her husband, Richard Mungai, came to the United States in 1994 so he could earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and then a master’s degree in divinity.
Ndungu worked and earned her associate degree in nursing from North Georgia College & State University. This spring, she will graduate with her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Western Governors University.
The couple has lived in Atlanta since 2000, but neither has forgotten their roots. Each year, they purchase and stockpile medications, eyeglasses and supplies for their annual trip to Kenya.
“At the most, I get about three hours of sleep a night while we’re there,” Ndungu said.
Although she hires local nurses and clinicians to work at the clinic, the need is always greater than the resources.
“People will get up at 2 a.m. and walk up to 25 miles to come to the clinic. By the time we open at 7 a.m., the line is so long that I barely can see the end,” she said. “When we’re so exhausted that we can no longer work, we have to ask people to come the next day.”
Ndungu treats patients of all ages who have various conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, pneumonia and sepsis. Since the couple founded Mission 2 Kenya — a nonprofit organization that helps raise funds for the clinic — about 25,000 people have been treated.
While many others support the ministry, the African trips eat up most of the couple’s savings. “Helping people brings joy to me,” she said. “I’d rather have joy than money in the bank.”
Ndungu also founded a free eye clinic in Kenya run by local clinicians. The clinic has provided 1,500 free cataract surgeries and given free eyeglasses to many patients.
“So many elderly people there are just waiting to go blind. One cataract removal costs about $1,000 and would be too costly for most people to afford,” she said.
After a couple of days of visiting orphanages and providing medical care and food, Ndungu returns to her job at WellStar Kennestone exhausted, humbled and satisfied with what she has accomplished.
“I’m a better nurse because of my time spent there,” she said. “It’s such a privilege to be able to live and work here, but I want to touch the lives of people there, too. I know I chose the right profession.”
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