39 Clif Bars Later...

My first blog post!  So exciting... if anyone even reads it.  I think people can comment.  Someone should, just so I know it worked.  At any rate, I leave for Uganda in FIVE days. 

I've been running around like crazy all this week (and basically ever since I took the MCAT on January 27) buying stuff for my trip, researching electrical converters, getting shots, and getting the international 3G plan set up for my iPad.

So what exactly will I be doing?  I'm not 100% sure yet!  I'll be in Bupoto, Uganda (if you want to check it out on google maps, look for Bupota, they haven't quite got the lingo down yet!) with the Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH, Check them out online), volunteering at the Beatrice Tierney Health Center.  I'll be living with an American doctor (Lisa Umphrey) and her husband, Doug in a guesthouse owned by AAH, along with other Ugandan staff members.  What I'll be doing will be probably a whole lot of shadowing at the clinic, along with some hands-on oppotunities.  I'll also be working on carrying out a research project started by my friend Brad (a second year med student at Georgetown University SOM), which has to do with the Community Health Educators initiative and their effectiveness in helping people understand more about community health and when/when not go to the clinic, as well as the effectiveness of the clinic in the community... more on all that later, when I actually hit the ground and can start working on the project, picking up where Brad left off.  The really cool thing about the research project is that not only will I be making a meaningful contribution, but I have a good shot of actually getting published with Brad on the study, which would be really awesome.

Getting ready to go has been kind of stressful.  The main thing is that I'm concerned I bring ENOUGH of everything, since Bupoto is sufficiently remote that I won't be able to just go buy more shampoo if I run out (and if go to the nearby (2 hours away) town, Mbale to get stuff, it probably won't be shampoo for long straight, smooth hair like mine). 

I spent one long morning at the Jefferson University Travel Medicine Clinic getting all of my shots taken care of before the MCAT.  This included a Yellow Fever shot (they actually won't let me into South Africa, the second destination country for me, without proof of this vaccine, plus you kind of want to have it in general when going to Uganda anyway) and a meningitis booster.  Luckily, from all of my trips to Honduras, I was up to date on all 3 of the Hepatitises (?), TDP,  and typhoid, or I would have had to get those shots too!

Other than packing, I've just been trying to tie up all my loose ends (like telling the credit card companies I'll be in Africa so if they see a charge in Uganda, its not fraud, just me!).  Here's brief list of some of the stuff I'm packing:
39 Clif Bars
Gatorade Mix
3 pairs of sneakers (planning to donate them!)
25 ounces each of shampoo and conditioner
7 things of bug spray
1 bottle of 100% DEET (I don't mess around!)
4 bottles of sunscreen
Fast drying towel
Sharpies/whiteboard markers/pens to donate to the clinic
LOTS of bandaids
Hand sanitizer
17 hair elastics
Afterbite
Long skirts (yeah I'll look like a hippie.  Deal.)
WE ARE GEORGETOWN shirt (debating bringing the You Can't Spell Sucks Without SU Shirt - I don't want to scare people)
iPad 3G with international data plan!
Noise cancelling headphones
Ambien for my flights

Well... that's about all that could be of interest (or not of interest) for now.  Next post I'll get into how I found out about AAH, and my plans to go to South Africa with Sam Halebian at the end of my trip.

Peace.