Tuesday 3/11/2024  

5am 

Good morning, friends!

Well, I have been awake since 3 am, due to heat and the monkey brain, finally giving up at 4:30am.

I feel like so much has happened in a mere 2 days, I don't know where to start! Sunday was filled with administrative projects on my own. The ITWA Team has a weekly phone meeting with Kristen in the late afternoon. I am not invited to these meetings, but a few hours later I was invited to a follow up meeting. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say it was very insightful, if not a bit frustrating. Monday, the team and I had a meeting, after some follow up phone calls were made regarding Gulu. The short version is that there were quite a few breeches of contract, so the trip was cancelled, regardless of the MOU status. In the meantime, the Atiak trip was accelerated and now I have 24 hours to pack up my personal things, collect all of my training materials, and prepare to drive north tomorrow morning. PIVOT! 

Where I'm headed!

Here is all you need to know about Atiak for the moment...

Yikes! 😬

I'm actually looking forward to working with this group and I will share more about them once I get up there and settled in. They have solar power, and I will be bringing a personal router, so keeping in touch should not be an issue. I have very few details to share about the training itself, only that I will be training 4-6 midwives, staying 3-4 weeks. They have accommodations for me and will cover my meals, and they are supposed to have a suitable space for lectures. I do love an adventure! I am the only trainer, so I will be doing all lectures and hands-on training. 

Last night I started packing up my things while Rian watched Monsters Inc on the spare bed in my room. Nothing relieves stress better than a giggling 8-year-old, except maybe a box of puppies or kittens. 😊

Promise to share more details soon, but in the meantime I'm off and running!

Much love, Jo/MB