When Khadija Kiptirim was thirteen years old, she was able to give medical assistance to an injured man. With nothing but a thread and needle, she single-handedly sutured a cut on his finger and stopped the bleeding.
After spending her early life in Baringo, Khadija sought to explore the wonders of the world beyond her hometown. KSCE exams seemed like the threshold to the adventures beyond home. Luckily, she emerged as one of the top performers in then Baringo District. And with this educational feat, more good things would come. At the time, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a collaborative project that offered bursaries to the best performing students from marginalized communities. Through this initiative, Khadija was awarded a scholarship to pursue a medical course at the University of Algiers.
Khadija left for Algeria in 2002, excited for the adventure that awaited her. But acclimatizing to her new environment was tougher than she’d anticipated. To begin with, she was required to spend the first two years of her studies learning the languages of the region: French and Arabic. Then one day, as Khadija was exploring Algiers, a race-centered insult was thrown her way and the words deeply affected her. Someone likened her to a monkey. These verbal forms of violence held so much weight that Khadija longed to return to the comfort of home. But Khadija persevered. Slowly, the wounds left by these words calloused over and she developed skin thick enough for insults to ricochet off.
After her third year of studying general medicine, Khadija chose to specialize in dentistry. Her initial intention had been to become a doctor, but her time in medical school had opened her up to other possibilities. Dental health, a specialization she hadn’t considered until then, became the field she chose to dedicate her time to.
Khadija completed her course, then returned to Kenya in 2012. After completing her internship training at Kenyatta National Hospital and Memorial Hospital in Nairobi, she decided that her work would be most impactful in her hometown. For this reason, she advocated for a posting at Eldama Ravine District Hospital.
She loved her job and went to work every day with motisha to serve her community. Her free time was spent exploring other things she could pursue within her field. Later that year she teamed up with a fellow dentist and opened a dental clinic in Rongai. This new venture took on several names and locations until finally, in 2017, Dr. Kiptirim became a consulting dentist at Lavington Dental Services.
Working within the community she grew up in gives Khadija a great sense of contentment. When she isn’t attending to the patients in her chair, Khadija visits schools around Baringo and teaches young people about the significance of oral hygiene. For her, it is important that people unlearn the misconceptions surrounding dentistry and realize that oral health is just as important as general sanitation.