In a small, one-room home in Kenya, Cadet Mike Lengi, ’27, sat with a mother and her four children as they prepared tea over a single-burner stove. The house had a dirt floor, doorways covered with curtains and little food to spare. Yet the mother still offered the last of her bread to her guests.
“I asked her why she would do that,” Lengi said. “She told me she couldn’t let us leave without eating. That’s her culture.”
The moment stayed with him long after he returned to The Citadel.
An exercise science major and football player, Lengi spent four weeks in Kenya as part of a medical mission team that helped provide care to more than 13,000 people. The experience exposed him to healthcare challenges far different from those he had seen in the United States.
“We complain about small things,” he said. “But there, people don’t even know what they’re going to eat, and they’re still smiling.”
For Lengi, the trip reinforced an interest in healthcare that began long before college. Born in the United States to parents from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and raised in French-speaking Canada, he watched his mother work as a caregiver for elderly patients.
“I remember seeing someone’s face light up when my mom walked in,” he said. “I knew I wanted to be that person.”
Now a rising senior, Lengi credits The Citadel with helping him develop the resilience and leadership skills needed to serve others. His experience in Kenya strengthened that commitment and gave him a deeper appreciation for the impact that compassionate care can have on a community.
“When we were there, we gave everything we had,” he said. “Because for some people, that might be their only chance to get care.”