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A Dream Come True: At 77 She'll Be a Nurse in Africa

Molly Kelly thought her dream of working as a nurse in Africa had died by the time she had eight children.

Little did she know that, at the age of 77, she’d get the chance to do exactly that.

The Juniata street resident leaves Aug. 3 for a one-month stint in Tanzania with Global Volunteers, a non-profit organization which annually sends 2,500 people on missions trips throughout the world.

Kelly will fly first to Zurich, Switzerland, and then on to Tanzania’s capital city of Dar es Salaam on the nation’s east coast. From there, it’s a nine-and-a-half-hour bus ride with other members of Global Volunteers to Iringa to buy supplies. Another hour-and-a- half bus ride along dirt roads will bring the group to Pommern, a small village where the volunteers will work in clinics.

“All my friends said, ‘You wanna go there? You’re nuts!’” Kelly recalled with a chuckle.

But she’s determined to go.

Kelly said she can still remember the moment she decided she wanted to work as a nurse in Africa.

She was no older than 5 when African missionaries visited the Pentecostal Assembly of God Church she attended, and she was captivated by them.

“When I went to church (and) I first saw the video of the Africans – I can still remember that day,” she said. “They say you can’t remember when you’re 5, and you can.”

“I thought: That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna go to Africa, and I’m gonna be a nurse.”

One of Kelly’s daughters, Theresa, learned about the Global Volunteers program from a friend and offered to pay the $2,400 cost of her mother’s trip. The money funds various projects in Pommern.

So, 72 years after a dream was born, it appears to be ready to come true.

Kelly said that many years ago, before she could think about going to Africa, she had to obtain her license as a practical nurse.

The young woman began working as a nurses’ aide at the former Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital in 1962, and three years later, she started her nursing studies through a program run by Lancaster City.

She did it while juggling five jobs.

Her late husband, Leo, was ill and hospitalized at the time, so she cleaned one man’s apartment and another’s business, sold Avon products and worked at a fruit market while she took classes.

“I had to support my kids, she said. I knew I wanted to get my LPN (certification), and I was determined.”

Kelly worked at Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital until 1979, and then she took job at Conestoga View Nursing Home.

But, she said, she missed the hospital badly and began working as a nurse on Lancaster General Hospital’s gynecology unit a year later.

After she retired in 1995, Kelly applied to join the Peace Corps, but her application was denied when a physical exam revealed that she had diabetes.

So one of her daughters, Eleanor, came up with an alternative.

The two drove to Tucson, Ariz., where Eleanor would complete medical school and Molly would work on an American Indian reservation.

“It was unbelievable just seeing the country,” Molly Kelly said.

“It’s a good way to get to know your daughter,” she added, with a sparkle in her eye. “We called ourselves Thelma and Louise.”

Kelly said she loved working for the San Xavier Indian Reservation but was appalled by the living conditions of its residents.

She returned to the St. Xavier Reservation in 1997 and 2003, among other activities of her retirement years.

The retiree maintains her practical nursing license and hopes to use it to volunteer at a local hospital later this year.

She said her experiences on the American Indian reservation prepared her for her upcoming trip to Africa.

“I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that either, she said. I just can’t wait to go.”

(c) YellowBrix 2008