Kira Hamann, at 10 years old, helps with health screening on her first medical mission trip in Ecuador. “I would take visual acuity,” Hamann said. | Submitted photo

The job shadow of a lifetime

Eye-opening experiences abroad prepare nursing student for her future.

By Gina Miller | Reporter

A group of Nigerian children peer into a window of a medical hut. They watch as the doctors prepare their parents for cataract surgery. Recent high school graduate Kira Hamann notices these little eyes as she assists her father. Hamann’s parents are medical missionaries. She has spent eight years taking trips with her family to help treat people.

Senior nursing student Kira Hamann helps with Cataract surgery in Niger, Africa. “I was irrigating the eye to keep it from drying out while the surgeon was removing the lens and replacing it with a synthetic one” she said. | Submitted by Kira Hamann

When she was younger Hamann and her two siblings would stay with their grandparents or a friend while their parents traveled. Her first trip was to Ecuador at 10 years old and she has been to many countries since then, including Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Niger. A special trip for Hamann’s family was Kenya 2013–14.

“It bonded my whole family,” Hamann said. “There was just a lot of uninterrupted time.”

Not only did they connect with each other on a deeper level, but got to know some native Kenyans.

13 year old Kira Hamann and Caroline from Kenya holding hands and laughing at the orphanage. | Submitted by Kira Hamann

“We were at an orphanage delivering Christmas presents to a bunch of kids and my mom and I really connected with this teenage girl,” Hamann said. “Her name was Caroline. We painted her nails and hung out with her.”

They traveled to Niger in 2016 to give free scans and surgeries, yet the trip became something more meaningful to Hamann. She found purpose for her future in the middle of the savanna.

“We were there for Cataract, but tons of kids accepted Jesus that day.” — Kira Hamann, senior nursing student at Bethel University.

During the summer of 2018, Hamann and her dad traveled to Niger, a high-poverty country located in West Africa. Hamann worked alongside her dad, who is an optometrist, and other doctors to scan patients and give free cataract surgeries. Some patients had children who waited outside the hut. One of the doctors brought toys along on the trip and they were able to play with the kids.

The next day more kids came to play. And each day after the number increased. The missionary staff put on an impromptu Vacation Bible School. While the patients recovered from surgery their children played games, sang songs and listened to biblical teachings.

Outside the medical mud hut, six Nigeran children watch the doctors do surgery. “Some of them would sit outside the operating room the entire day watching us,” nursing student Kira Hamann said. | Submitted photo

“We were there for cataract, but tons of kids accepted Jesus that day,” she said. “It was a total God thing. Because of the toys someone just happened to bring, we had an opportunity to minister to those kids.”

Because of her parent’s influence and meaningful moments overseas, it became evident to Hamann that this is what she is meant to do. She is currently pursuing a nursing degree and hopes to work in labor and delivery at the Maple Grove hospital to someday be a midwife.

“You don’t have to go overseas to do ministry.” she said.