QUICK CHECK-IN

I arrived in Kampala today, alive and well.  It was a fairly uneventful trip, which is good.

I was officially called a "Muzungu" (which is what they call white people here) today, so I feel like I've made it.  First impressions: Uganda reminds me a lot of Colombia and I think I will have less trouble adjusting than I thought I would.  It still seems a little crazy that I'm here and I find me asking myself "What were you thinking coming here?"a lot.  Not out of fear, just disbelief.  I'm glad that I am here though.

Today was spent mostly sleeping and praying.  There's still a lot of self-reflection that comes with this trip and I'm glad I have the time to do so.  Orientation + tour of Kampala tomorrow, and on Wednesday, I'll head out to Mbarara, which is near to where I will actually be working.  I am also hoping to meet this physician I still need a signature from.

oh...cultural faux pas I may have made today: I brought some stuff from Philly from a friend who's family lives in Uganda and I spoke with the family this afternoon and told them they could come by the Inn to drop things off.  They asked when I would be here and I told them "All day.  I have dinner at 6 though".  In my head, that meant: come before or after that because I will be busy.  They showed up exactly at 6, which makes me wonder if they thought they were going to be fed.  Hospitality is a big deal here, but it wasn't my food, so I assumed the role of dumb Muzungu and said good-bye very quickly.  I will be careful in the future how I say things.

Anyway, just wanted you to know I made it here.  Hopefully I will have pictures to start posting soon. :)

LESS THAN 24 HOURS

Just thought I should post something before I left.  I'm surprised at how much there is left to do in terms of getting ready for this trip.  Nothing for the actual trip...just making sure everything is taken care of here while I'm gone.

My friends threw me a good-bye party last night and it was wonderful to be able to see everyone at least once more before I left.  I was encouraged by their presence and the way people stepped up when my lack of planning became evident.  Favorite part of the night: watching my vegan friend, Daryn, grilling...because none of us ladies were entirely sure how to.  Awesome. :)

Everyone keeps asking me how I'm feeling, and for the most part I'm feeling good.  I freaked out a little yesterday, I think mostly from finally feeling the magnitude of this trip.  Even prepping for a trip changes a person's perspective on life.  For example: today I was trying to eat and drive, when I suddenly thought "this is kind of dangerous, I could hurt myself by not being fully focused on the road".  But then I thought "I'm going to Africa. And I'm hungry"  And everything was ok. :)

Seriously though, the nervousness comes in waves.  My biggest fear is one that plagues me here too, and that is the fear of killing a patient.  I have surprisingly little experience with death and now I'm going to a place where I feel it is rampant based on the lack of resources.  This week we had lectures preparing us for our intern year and it has made me increasingly aware of how much medicine I don't remember and because of it, I'm not sure if I'll be able to not feel guilty if my patient dies.  I need to remember God's sovereignty in this.  It is the Lord who gives and takes away, not me.  I have responsibilities, but some things are outside of my control.  ::big sigh::  We'll see.  One day at a time.

Before I head off to bed, just a shout out to my AIM-ers: Luke who left today and Christine who leaves tomorrow.  And if I don't get to talk to the Washington trio before you head out...good luck and I'll be following your blogs and praying accordingly.  I know we're all going separately, but there is a togetherness in this process for which I am grateful and I wish you all the best out there.

Out for now. See you in Uganda. :)

NOTHING TO DO WITH AFRICA

I'm going to be a Family Medicine resident at Lancaster General next year.  It's going to be awesome. :)

ACCEPTANCE...KIND OF

Dr. Hlavac, is currently my favorite person.  She's the Family Medicine pathway director at Drexel and is the person who's job is to make sure I graduate.  I called her, trying to figure out what my back-up options were if Drexel chose to take back my "pending approval" for Uganda and didn't give me the credits I needed to graduate.  In a nutshell, the problem I was having with getting approval had to do with getting a signature from the right physician in Uganda, which has not been easy to do for a million reasons.  After explaining to her the whole situation, she made some phone calls, sent some emails, and eventually I got this response:

"She will need to tell us who is evaluating her ASAP. If this has to be after she gets there so be it."

Which is a little sassy, but basically means I can at least go and get the signature myself when I meet the physician who will be evaluating me.  It's not an official approval, but it buys me a little more time.

This is good news.  Tomorrow is Match Day and I want to be able to enjoy it without wondering if I'm going to have to reject the job offer because I wouldn't graduate.  Oh man, I'm so excited.  In exactly 12 hours, I'll be sitting anxiously with all the people I've shared blood, sweat, and tears with, waiting to open the envelopes that tell us where we'll be working for the next few years.  ::giddy dance::

IN THE BEGINNING...

So, I leave for Uganda in less than two weeks.  I still don’t technically have school approval, but I have long decided that am going anyway.  That’s not me being rebellious…if you haven't and want to hear the story behind it, we can have that discussion and I’m fairly sure you’d agree with me.  And if not, you would at least understand why I have chosen to risk my graduating for this.   Regardless, this Friday could potentially be the day this all hits the fan.  I know nothing except that I feel a calm about going that I firmly believe is from God because it is nowhere in my nature to be this hopeful.  So, I’m choosing to trust that if there are any repercussions, He will continue to guide me appropriately.  

Anyway, this is my first blog entry, so I thought I’d just briefly mention why I’m taking this trip.  The generic, yet incomplete answer is:  I’ve always been interested in International Medicine, and I found an organization that would let me do a medical elective overseas.  That’s really secondary though.

I am going with a missions organization and truly, the intention is to gain a deeper understanding and love for God and His people.  I kind of understand when people say they don't see God.  Romans teaches us we have no excuse, but the American life can still be very distracting; there’s always facebook or pinterest or hulu to constantly stimulate us and I know it often plays a big role in keeping me from praying/reading/seeking.  Media fasts are helpful, but I think it will be beneficial to get away and refocus a little.  The blog title “Milk” alludes to scripture about spiritual milk and is meant to illustrate my intention of going back to some of the basics.   I am joyful that already, even in the preparation of this trip, the challenges God has allowed me to go through have given me the motivation I needed to more actively seek Him and it’s been really nice.  I like feeling comfortable and feeling like I have control of my life, but to be honest, it’s nothing “compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things” (Phil 3:8).   And I feel that if I never actually go to Uganda, the benefits of this process have already more than surpassed the work that’s been put into going.

Other reasons for me going are numerous and range from learning about evangelism to learning about how others integrate faith and medicine to learning about the effect culture has on faith -a whole slough of other things, which mostly revolve around learning.  A little selfish, maybe, but I think a little humility will go a long way.  I’m not truly sure what I offer a country like Uganda, but I guess I'll see what the Lord is doing there and if there's any way I can be of service. 

Anyway, I’ll cut this entry off here because I know long posts are hard to digest.  Internet is supposedly shoddy in Uganda, but hopefully I’ll be able to post about some of my adventures while I’m over there.

A special shout-out to my fellow AIM-ers, who are also taking their own trips throughout Africa in the near future (and Conor who is there now!).  I am continuing to pray for you and I’m really excited to hear about your own adventures and about what the Lord teaches you.

That’s all for now.

Mel :)