Thursday, May 18, 2023

What a couple of busy days I've had! Tomorrow will be the final exams (hands-on and written) for this training group, most leaving immediately after a small ceremony on Saturday morning. Wednesday, I gave the first lecture of the day, review and recap quiz on Tuesday's lectures, and spent the afternoon working on additional lectures and assisting with a lecture on the description of masses. This lecture is given by Sr. Angela, however, we lost power a few times and lectures are given with an overhead projector, so I assisted her by drawing examples on the board so she could continue the lecture. During our end of the day meeting, the group decided to give a quiz on Thursday and asked me to make a PowerPoint quiz, focusing on fetal anatomy and biometry, 1st Trimester OB, medical ethics, ultrasound artifacts and description of masses. Needless to say, I ended up working through dinner, finally completing the quiz and answer key around 8:30pm. In the morning I was asked to make a few changes to the quiz before class began, adjust the answer key, then start the review lecture. The quiz took close to an hour, allowing 1 - 2 minutes per slide/question. Once completed, while the lectures continued, I graded all of the exams and compiled some specific data on the individual questions. Samalie and I decided the best course of action would be to go over the quiz, explaining the answers in detail, so I made another PowerPoint with the quiz answers. We initially only had three volunteer mothers to work with in the late morning, however more continued to arrive and our lunch was delayed 2 hours in order to allow the trainees to scan as much as possible. Flexibility is the key to this program!  Typically, we have lunch from 1 - 2 pm, then lectures until 4pm. At 3:45pm, after the last person had eaten lunch, it was decided by the trainees to push on through with the last lecture (given by me on GYN Pathology) and quiz discussion. Finished around 5:30pm, most of the group retired to their rooms for a rest, some skipping dinner altogether. I stayed at the training center, trying to complete a lecture on Color Wave Doppler for the trainers, however the Wi-Fi did not cooperate. I continued to work on notes for the lecture until dinner was served, then headed back to my room with the intention of writing on the blog. Nope. Power was completely out at the Eco Camp. Grateful for my solar light, I decided to watch part of a movie (download!) and knit for a bit. A sudden rainstorm, comforting and deafening on the metal roof, lulled me to sleep.

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A quick sidetrack and another plug for House of the Wild... I may have mentioned the incredible staff here. They welcome me like a dear friend every morning when I arrive early and check on me throughout the day. They have gone above and beyond to ensure that I am well fed (overfed!) and when I am working late in the teaching room, they have brought my meals in on a tray. When I told Elvin (the head waiter) that he was spoiling me, he said "Ah, no, Jo! We are just taking care of you!" I am going to miss these people so much!

Yesterday's lunch: fresh chickpea, tomato and avocado salad along with my usual salad of greens, tomato and mangoes from the organic garden, olives and cheese. I don't eat this well at home!

 

Whew! Now you are all caught up! It's a little after 7am and I am sitting at the table, sipping some tea, listening the kitchen crew sing, chat and laugh with each other, preparing for the day. Our tentative plan is to give lectures in the morning, with hands-on training before lunch, then the trainers will go to the market for the afternoon, while Allan spends the afternoon teaching the class about the programs used to document and submit exams. If mothers continue to trickle in late, we are resigned to missing the market in order to give as much hands-on training as possible.

I will leave you with an Introduction to Liz and hope I have some market photos to share with you tomorrow!

Much Love, Jo (MB)

I would like to introduce Elizabeth (Liz) Akinyi Odour, the Program Coordinator for ITWA Kenya. This is her first year with ITW and she loves it very much. Liz holds a BS in Communication, majoring in Electronic Media from Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya. She also holds an AA degree in Culinary Arts from Grand Rapids Community College and has completed a course in Project Management. She is originally from and continues living in Kenya with her husband and child. Liz: “I love working with ITW because I share in the dream of improving people’s lives by increasing access to modern medical imaging technology in the most rural and resource limited areas in my country.” Liz is a dynamic, organized and charismatic addition to the ITW team, and we are lucky to have her.