Two summers ago, Kelechi Umoga went back to Nigeria and began building a
health clinic in the village of Abuja, Nigeria. He hopes to go to med school and be a doctor, but he’s already begun to
transform health care in his home
country!
The Cornell Chronicle wrote a fantastic article about his work that you can read here.
Cru at Cornell is literally one of the largest student organizations on campus because of leaders like Kelechi. He is a very committed leader in our ministry here and what that means is that he’s a contributor who shows up week in and week out to work alongside others in an effort to serve his fellow students and work in ways that make Cornell more joyful. To me that’s incredibly important. I know that Kelechi can bring people together to work on something great in Africa because I’ve seen him do that here on campus.
As a desk receptionist at Anabel Taylor Hall, one of Kelechi
Umoga’s duties includes locking up Cornell’s Sage Chapel on the nights when he
works. A couple of weeks ago when he
walked in after 11:00pm he saw a solitary student sitting in a pew quietly
staring forward; deep in thought.
Kelechi hesitated a moment, not wanting to disturb the guy, and then
politely asked him if he would mind shutting off the lights when he left. The student obligingly said ‘yes’ and Kelechi
was going to leave, but he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to walk over and
engage the student in conversation.
They ended up talking for quite a while and I have no doubt Kelechi was
able to be of considerable comfort to this new friend who was struggling over the
recent break up with his girlfriend. In
the end, they exchanged numbers and made plans to meet again. Kelechi is a caring, helpful, compassionate
person who makes time for others not just when he’s doing something
spectacular, but even late at night when no one is around to see him.
Kelechi hosts a Community Group, gives guidance to our student prayer team and sings in our Cru Cornell Gospel band. This guy has integrity and it’s a beautiful thing to
witness. When he sings there is a power that flows not just from his strong vocal chords
but from the authentic, blood earnest faith that he has in Jesus Christ. His conviction is evident and there’s just
something right about a person proclaiming that “God is good all the time” who
actually believes that!
In the spring of 2013 Kelechi accompanied our group on a
service trip to Haiti where we work with an orphanage. Kelechi is fluent in French which was
incredibly helpful and he was certainly a natural with the kids. I have this image burned into my mind
whenever I think about Kelechi of him dancing with the orphans one evening at
the house. He told me once that back in
high school he was really into partying and his dance skills were somewhat
notorious. So much of that party scene
was destructive and self-promoting and so when he became a Christian he was
very cautious about getting involved in that type of scene, and so he really
doesn’t dance as much. But he brought
out the moves that night, and the kids were all about it! And for me, that scene really captures so
much of who Kelechi is. He’s a man in
motion, engaging with others, bringing joy and blessing to those around
him. When you think about it, that’s
pretty much what dancing is really supposed to be about anyway. So for me his skills are still
notorious!
When it comes to motivation, drive, initiative and even big
vision, you could say that there are a lot of guys like Kelechi at
Cornell. But to me, what sets him apart
is that he’s such a team player. Kelechi
has plans that’s for sure, but he’s unusual in that he’s not out there trying
to just do his own thing by himself. He
lives life connected with others, and he has good friends. For any grand endeavor to really work in this
world you need capable people who can truly lead others, motivate others and mobilize their friends. Kelechi is adept at joining together with
others and getting other people involved in whatever he is doing.
Kelechi spent this last summer studying for his Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)
and in the end, his score wasn’t that great.
He will need to keep studying and retake the test in order to gain
admittance into med school and that was discouraging for sure. But as long as he feels called to be a
doctor I am absolutely certain that he will strive and persevere and overcome
in order to achieve that goal. And even
though the scores weren’t as good on this round as he would like, I feel
confident that he will make an incredible doctor some day because he already
does so many of those things that great doctors must do! He actually cares for people, he serves
others, he lives a life of consistency and conviction. He passes his classes here at Cornell, so I
also know that he’s academically capable, it’s just a matter of time before he
improves his MCAT scores and proceeds to med school. But in the meantime, what he’s going to do is
trust God and live his life doing all kinds of wonderful things, and so there
will be no time “lost” that’s for sure!
Either way, Kelechi is planning to take a gap year and this past weekend, he was with me in Rochester, attending Cru's intern preview weekend. He is seriously considering sticking with us next year as an intern which would be absolutely incredible!
In case you haven’t read this article about him, please
check it out:
