Wow. Did I just read that right?...6 weeks to Tanzania? Where does time go? It's almost August and it feels like it was May just yesterday.
It's true...6 weeks from tomorrow I'll be boarding a series of planes, with 7 other Nurses, that fly over two days from Toronto to London, England; London to Dar Es Salaam, on the coast of Tanzania; Dar Es Salaam to Mwanza, in the north western aspect of the country. It will take a long time to reach our destination!
I honestly feel very overwhelmed at this point about this trip. I feel great about it! I just feel overwhelmed at how fast it is approaching and how many little details I still need to pull together. The other day I discovered that in order to visit Tanzania, my passport must be valid for 6 months after the time of my visit there. Mine expires in January. So! quick trip to the passport office (since I'm going to the U.S. this week and will need my passport), a rush order on the passport and I'm pleased to say, it's in my trusty little hands as of today. When I return from the U.S., I have to mail my passport off to the Kenyan High Commission and the Tanzanian High Commission to obtain my Visitor's Visas. Wow. You can actually get a Visa in the countries at the time of landing, but it is recommended to have them in advance. So...it's little things (or big things!) like this that can easily get missed. Thank heavens I found out about the passport expiry issue!!
I'm completely ecstatic that I received news last week from Compassion Canada that they have confirmed my visit to my sponsored child in central Tanzania. I can hardly comprehend this and the thought of meeting her face to face is just....there's no words. I just received a letter from Helena this week and all I could think about was, I'm going to meet you!!!!! I'm going to touch you and hold you and meet your family and see your life and see how my investment in your life has made a difference. It's more precious than gold. Yay!!
In terms of the work we'll be doing in Tanzania, we'll be based out of the Urafiki Health Centre in Igoma, and I am excited as they recently opened a Maternal Care wing to the Health Centre. Most of our time will actually be spent out in the more remote villages doing mobile health clinics. I have been spending time researching tropical diseases and infections as I have so much to learn. I wish I had been more prepared this way for when I went to Peru, but it was such a learning experience. The reality is that there may be symptoms that we see that look like something we would diagnose in North America, but in actual fact it is a disease that's very local to the area in Africa. I want to be schooled in how to identify symptoms of such diseases and learn from the local health care workers in their knowledge of these infections. We have so much to learn, one from another.
For more information about Igoma, Tanzania where this Medical Team will be located, visit:
http://www.sipartnership.org/igoma.php
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