40 // VARSITY March 13, 2014
S
hortly before Ammerman sustained her con-
cussion last season, she was in the process of
filling out an application to Health by Motor-
bike, a mobile health initiative for women that brings
services, supplies and information to unreachable
rural communities in countries like Kenya.
Ammerman's goal is to be a doctor and a surgeon.
"Once I became a Women's Studies major, I became
more interested in women's health and I shadowed
a bunch of doctors," she said. "I mentioned that I
wanted to go somewhere ― a Third World country
― to help people and make a difference."
Kenya sounded "cool" to Ammerman. But they
were only accepting so many applicants. Still, she
was encouraged to take the necessary steps to fill
out the paperwork, if for no other reason than it
would serve nicely as a diversion at a time when the
concussions were weighing heavily on her.
"My family was behind it because it gave me
something else to focus on," she said. "At that point,
it was a conversation on whether I would ever play
hockey again. My parents were like, 'You might as
well apply, maybe this will be something as impor-
tant to you (as hockey).'"
Maybe, they thought, this would be a driving force
for her ― with or without hockey.
And that's what it has become for Ammerman af-
ter spending one month in Kenya.
"People's first impression in the developed
world," she said, "is that it's poor and everyone is
starving and unhappy and it's a miserable life. In
parts, yes, it's true. We went to slums and witnessed
that. But people were still very happy; smiling and
singing and dancing for us."
While she was in Lungalunga, she came to the re-
alization, "It's not like they want to get out of there
and come to America. They just wanted to have a
better life; a better quality of life."
Ammerman was so moved by what she saw, par-
ticularly with how the women reacted to a soccer
ball that she had brought on the trip, she's going
back to Kenya in May for two weeks. And she's tak-
ing her mom, Babette. Their goal is to organize a
soccer league.
That takes money, and she raised nearly $2,000
through the sale of T-shirts that feature the "Health
by Motorbike" logo on the front and one word on
the back, the word is Nikumbuke, the health post
in Lungalunga. "In Swahili," Ammerman said, "it
means, 'Remember me."'
You can't put it into words, but she won't soon for-
get the last 18 months.
WATCH: AMMERMAN'S TRIP TO KENYA
