Umra Omar

By Pamela Burke/October 11, 2016
Photos provided by Safari Doctors

What do you do when you have a successful career but find out that people living in an archipelago thousands of miles away in your native Kenya have serious healthcare issues that need attention? Umra Omar (@UmraOmar) faced that situation head-on and made the decision to return to the land of her birth.

In 2014 she founded Safari Doctors, a program operating out of Lamu, Kenya, offering free basic medical services where there were almost none.

“We say every journey starts with a single step…The goal is to have monthly clinics targeting a minimum of 10 villages which is service to approximately 10,000 villagers treating an average of 1,000 patients a month.”  Umra Omar

CNN recently recognized her efforts by naming her a CNN Hero. We were so impressed with Umra and her team that we want to introduce her to our TWE readers. Her small group travels by air, road and boat to bring much needed healthcare to the coastal islands in the Lamu Archipelago.  The trips can be dangerous as the Somalia border and terrorists are not far away.

Meet Umra who is eight months pregnant with her second child and as committed as ever…  [Read more…]