Return to Rwanda

Tomorrow morning we'll start the journey back to Rwanda. All the little tasks have been done, the garbage can is at the curb, the plants have extra water, the dishwasher is running and we are packed...and I mean PACKED. This trip is 51 days long. The weather at Mt. Kilimanjaro ranges from 90 degrees at the base to minus 14 degrees at the summit, so we have lots of layers to take. Add to that the camera stuff for Doug, the teaching stuff for me and forty two pairs of glasses for the guys in prison, and you have a big load!
We will spend about 16 days between Tanzania and Kenya, doing some touring, seeing the Serengeti and hopefully conquering Mt. Kili, then I'll fly to Kigali to begin teaching and Doug will be traveling overland in Kenya and getting an up close view of the terrain and the people. He'll join me later in Kigali.
This second trip, I'm going with my eyes open, knowing something of what we'll face at the hospitals. I have less self confidence than last summer but I feel more ready to engage with the work. Self confidence can be poorly informed and misplaced. When I actually got down to the reality of anesthesia in Rwanda, I found that I needed more than my years of experience in Hillsboro and a few lectures to pull this off. So, I'm going to listen, watch, learn, and pray as we face the inevitable desperate situations. I'm sure I'll be stretching a lot, and hope to gain some flexibility in the process.

Sue