Did you know that nearly 700 million people get a mosquito-borne illness each year? Resulting in over one million deaths?!? Hopefully, my vaccines and malaria meds will help prevent Malaria and Yellow fever, but there is still West Nile, Dengue, Zika...it's a long list! This should help you understand why I designated this weekend as "Permethrin Weekend". :) Permethrin is a chemical that is often used to treat clothing and gear against ticks and mosquitos, and one of my travel buddies "gifted" me a bottle of the stuff for my trips. I started by treating all of my luggage, backpack, and packing cubes and then all of my clothing, additional mosquito netting, travel pillow and hats. I also have 2 bottles of 100% DEET joining me on this journey. As fun as it was freaking out my coworkers, by showing them the list of poisonous snakes in Uganda, I think it's the mozzies that pose a greater threat. Well, the gear is treated, clothing and shoes are packed, but there is still a huge pile of random supplies that I need to organize and pack. If you have followed my blog since the beginning, I love to post a before and after packing photo, but there is going to be a delay on the "after" photo this time. ;) Packing for 6 weeks is a lot more complicated than packing for 2 weeks, that's for sure. I'm a bit anxious about the weight limit, but I still have 2 weeks to sort and weigh in.

2 weeks!!! It has come up so fast! I've been talking with Dr. K, and along with visiting multiple clinics within Uganda, I will be joining her in meeting with the Uganda Ministry of Health to discuss adding additional clinics to ITW's training program. There is an awful lot of paperwork involved in traveling to Uganda for this length of time and volunteering in a medical capacity. I am really quite relaxed about the general preparation, but I'm anxious about remembering all of my travel documents. Well, I have 15 days to figure it out! With that being said, I am going to try to stop thinking about it now, and turn in for the night. Last, but never least, I want to thank all of the people who continue to send me donations. I have been able to purchase a couple of highly recommended books on tropical medicine, a new filter for my lifeStraw water bottle, and numerous odds and ends that will make this trip, and the work I will do once I am there, a little easier. I am also able to start saving for next year's trip, which will be twice as long as this one! I'm so incredibly grateful.
oxox MB