Nurse returns to African home

Mission work runs in the family.

At least, that is the case for Amanda Perkins, RN, BSN, nurse at Menorah Medical Center.

Perkins grew up in Ivory Coast, West Africa as the daughter of missionaries. She moved to Africa with her parents in 1986 and lived there until she went to college. Growing up, Perkins saw a culture very different from that of the United States.

“Where I grew up the health care system is awful,” Perkins said.

She said there simply is not enough money, doctors or transportation to give people the care they need. Many people do not even know when they need to see a doctor.

Perkins’s parents observed her affinity for mission work at a young age.

“She’s always been really involved with people,” said Tim Downs, Perkins’ father. “She’s always just reached out to people. She was always caring.”

When Perkins was a senior in high school she said she began to feel a call from God to do mission work.

“Our life is so much more than just us,” she said.

Perkins returned to the United States to attend Baptist Bible College for her bachelor’s in cross-cultural communication. She said the adjustment to American life was not easy.

“Of all of our kids she had spent the most time in Africa. She was probably the most at home there,” Downs said.

Perkins went on to receive her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing at Rockhurst University and is working toward her Family Nurse Practitioner degree, which she plans to achieve in December. She has been a nurse at Menorah Medical Center for three years.

Perkins hopes to move to Africa to be a full-time missionary within the next year or two.

“We’ll just kind of go and do whatever doors open up,” she said.

Amanda Perkins’ husband James Perkins shares her sense of calling toward Africa.

Amanda said she hopes to start a clinic and a non-profit organization to help the people of Africa. She has already been on mission trips to the Philippines and Belgium.

Downs said that he and his wife are thrilled at Perkins’ choice to become a missionary, though North Africa won’t be an easy place to serve.

“They’ve chosen a pretty severe path,” Downs said. “They’ll learn the same lessons that we learned.”

Downs said that Perkins is already further along in experience than he and his wife were at her age.

Perkins said she looks forward to living in Africa indefinitely.

“Africa is home to me,” she said. “My husband and I can’t wait to go home.”

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