Monkey Brain Musings

 Monday May 1, 2023  6am Good morning! My attempt to write last night was thwarted by heavy rains and spotty Wi-Fi, so I will try again this morning. Yes, it's still raining! I am no stranger to constant rain, thanks to living in the PNW, so I am adjusting easier than the rest of the team.  For those of you who don't know, I am here in Kenya as an Ultrasound Trainer Volunteer for the NGO Imaging the World.  https://www.imagingtheworld.org/  We offer Sonographer training in Africa, currently in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi, often traveling to remote clinics to assess Sonographers and offer training. From almost the moment I stepped off the plane, I have been planning my next trip back. I already have a long list on my phone of supplies and prep ideas and the more I meet with the other training team members, the more ideas we have about continuing education for the Sonographers. Yesterday was a busy day of meetings, lecture assignments, training suggestions and collab...

 Saturday 4/29/23 10:00pm I'm in Kenya! and I can confirm that it is still the rainy season, but ;et me back up a bit... Yesterday was the end of the month meeting with the accountants at ITW, so I spent the day entertaining Rian and repacking for the trip to Kenya. I was able to have a short meeting with Dr. Joyce Nayiga, Radiologist and the director of the Ultrasound School in Kampala, which was lovely. On my return from Kenya, I will have the opportunity to visit and tour the school, so more on that later. I finally tucked in for the night and woke up at 3am. UGH. At 3:30am I gave up and got up, finished packing, took a shower and was ready to roll long before necessary. We left the office at 8am, picking up the rest of the training team on the way to the airport. Our Ugandan training team consists of Samalie (Lead Trainer), Sister Angela, and John; all are Sonographers and Radiographers, along with our IT guru, Allan. Additional trainers from Kenya will also be joining us at th...

 Friday, April 28th, 2023 8:30am Good Morning! I made it, I'm here in Uganda and it feels unbelievable. My flight from Seattle to Dubai was as expected...long...so long, but uneventful in all the right ways. I had a 15-hour layover, so I booked a hotel for the night and made a feeble attempt to get some sleep.    The morning view from my hotel in Dubai Back at the airport by 7am, I took a 5.5 hour flight to Entebbe, Uganda. My flight was not full, however there was another flight that came in around the same time, so getting through customs and the airport was slow going. My memory of the baggage claim at the airport was every man (or woman) for themselves! There are carts available and people would grab a cart and push it close to the conveyor belt in order to pull their boxes and large luggage directly on to the cart. If you see your bag, you push through the crowd or wait until there is a clearing. On my last visit, I waited. and waited. and waited. This time, I q...

 Sunday 4/23/23 Welcome Back!  It's almost unbelievable that 4 years have passed since my last post. So much has happened, unfortunately most of it tragic. In the past four years I have lost both beloved parents under heartbreaking and emotionally exhausting circumstances, learned how to manage a global pandemic while working in healthcare, and have just existed in Survival Mode. Whew. I feel as if I have been carrying my grief and heartbreak and responsibilities like a metal suit that I cannot take off. It can make you stronger, but it can also wear you down with the exhaustion of it all.  My mother passed away in October 2019, quite suddenly and traumatically and my father passed away from Alzheimer's in early January of this year, expected and yet much sooner than anticipated. I have started the year with yet another wave of grief, but also as a fresh start in a way that I did not anticipate, a "Mulligan" for my life. What do I do now? What do I want to do that I h...