My Medical Mission Trip to Kenya: 10 Days of Dermatology Care with ME to WE
My Medical Mission Trip to Kenya: 10 Days of Dermatology Care with ME to WE
By: Savanna Perry, PA-C
Savanna spent 10 days in Kenya on a medical mission trip through the ME to WE organization, providing dermatological care to members of local tribes alongside cultural immersion activities such as visiting local homes and the local market. This was the first in a planned series of recap posts. Her takeaway for pre-PA students is simple: if an opportunity to go on a mission trip comes your way, take it.
Last Updated: August 3, 2026
Your Pre-PA Bestie Blog - everything you need to know to become a PA in one place.
The original post
Last month I had the privilege of going on a 10 day trip to Kenya! It was through the ME to WE organization, and I cannot say enough about how amazing it was. The purpose of the trip was to provide dermatological care to people of the local tribes. We also got to participate in some unique cultural immersion activities, like visiting local homes and the local market. I’m going to share some pictures from my trip today, and I have a lot of posts that will be coming up so I can tell you all about my experience. I would encourage you to take any opportunity you may have to go on a mission trip!
I’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks, but if you want to see a video of me kissing a giraffe, check out my Instagram – @thePAplatform
In our experience at The PA Platform, medical mission trips are one of the most memorable things a pre-PA student can do, but they are also one of the most misunderstood parts of an application. Applicants often assume a mission trip will single-handedly make them stand out, and that is rarely how admissions committees read it. What actually resonates is what you learned about delivering care with limited resources, how you handled the language and cultural barriers, and whether the experience changed the way you think about access to healthcare. A trip that produces a genuine, specific reflection is far more valuable than a trip that only produces photos. We also encourage applicants to be thoughtful about scope of practice while abroad — you should never be performing procedures you would not be permitted to perform at home, and admissions committees do notice when an applicant describes practicing beyond their training.
Every Pre-PA Should Know...
On CASPA, a medical mission trip is usually logged as volunteer experience rather than paid patient care experience, and hours only count as patient care if you were personally providing hands-on care. Travel days, fundraising, and construction or building work belong under volunteer or other experience. [VERIFY] Always confirm the current CASPA experience definitions before categorizing your hours.
****INSERT FREE LEAD MAGNET FORM OR HTML BLOCK AND DELETE TEXT BOX*****
Need to Know:
Trip length: 10 days
Organization: ME to WE
Location: Kenya
Type of care provided: Dermatology for members of local tribes
Cultural immersion: Visiting local homes and the local market
Format: Photo recap, first in a planned series of follow-up posts
[VERIFY] Original publication date — this post was part of a 2017 series
[VERIFY] Original photo gallery and the Instagram giraffe video did not carry over in migration
Listen: The Role of Physician Assistants in International Healthcare: A Discussion
Jesse and I went to Kenya together, and we finally sat down to talk about it.
Jesse and I went to Kenya together, and we finally sat down to talk about it.
He's a dermatology PA and the founder of Skin Made Simple, so this one covers a lot of ground. What a medical mission trip actually involves, what we took away from ours, and how he built a skincare business alongside clinical work.
If you're curious about global health, or about PAs who do more than see patients, start here.
What we talk about
What our trip to Kenya was really like
How mission work changes the way you think about practicing
Choosing a trip that's actually ethical and useful
Jesse's path into dermatology
Building Skin Made Simple while working as a PA
Where medicine and business overlap for PAs
Resources
Follow The Pre-PA Club: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · All episodes
FAQ
It depends entirely on what you did. If you were personally providing hands-on care to patients — taking vitals, assisting with wound care, triaging — those hours can generally be logged as patient care experience, though usually as volunteer rather than paid. If you were interpreting, organizing supplies, building, or shadowing a provider, those hours belong under volunteer, other, or shadowing instead. [VERIFY] Confirm the current CASPA definitions for each experience type before you submit, since the categories are periodically updated.
A mission trip is a wonderful experience, but it is not a requirement and it will not compensate for a low GPA or thin patient care hours. If you have the time and the funds and you are genuinely interested, go. If you are choosing between a mission trip and several hundred additional hours of consistent, hands-on patient care experience at home, the patient care experience is almost always the stronger investment for your application.
ME to WE is a social enterprise that organizes international volunteer travel experiences, including trips to Kenya, with an emphasis on community partnership and cultural immersion alongside service work. Savanna traveled with them on the 10-day dermatology trip described in this post. [VERIFY] Confirm current trip offerings, destinations, and pricing directly with the organization, as programs change from year to year.
Costs vary widely depending on the organization, the destination, the length of the trip, and whether airfare is included. Many trips fall in the range of a few thousand dollars once flights, program fees, vaccinations, and travel insurance are accounted for. Many participants fundraise part of the cost. [VERIFY] Request a full cost breakdown from any organization before committing, and ask specifically what is and is not included.
You can, but be careful with it. Mission trips are one of the most common personal statement topics, so the trip itself will not make your essay distinctive — your specific reflection will. Avoid framing that centers you as a rescuer or that treats the community as a backdrop for your growth. The strongest versions focus on one concrete patient interaction or one specific realization about healthcare access, and connect it directly to why you want to be a PA rather than another profession.
Email [email protected] or use the contact form at The PA Platform to pitch a guest post or share your story.
CLOSING
Mission trips are worth doing for their own sake, not for what they add to an application. If you get the opportunity, go — and then take the time to reflect on it honestly. That reflection is what will still be useful to you years later, in an interview room or in an exam room.
***INSERT HTML SERVICE BLOCK CTA****
You May Also Like:
What I’ve Learned From International Medical Missions
Healthcare + Patient Care Experience for Physician Assistant School
How to Track Your Hours for CASPA
Crafting a Personal Statement for Your Application to Physician Assistant School
The Pre-PA Newsletter
Real PA admissions updates, new free resources, this week's podcast, and the one thing to focus on this week of the cycle.
Your email address is safe with us .We never share your information with anyone