December 2nd, 2017 by georginagreen

I shall try to begin and end this blog and this journey with thank you’s. In residency, as in med school, it takes a village to get through it. I need to thank:

-The foundation that is funding this trip, Baptist Trinity Lutheran Legacy Foundation, and Dr. Salanski and Beverly Cline at Research Family Medicine Residency program for helping with the logistics.

-To InMed, including Dr. Comninellis, Elizabeth Burgos, Nick Edwards for making this happen.

-To the Tenwek staff, especially Annette and Eunice. Helping me to get ready for the trip has been like wrangling cats, and I appreciate all the kindness and patience.

-To Rich, for feeding the fish and feeding the humans. There aren’t enough big words to properly thank you or explain what you do, so I’ll leave it at that.

-To Zoe, for understanding, for being supportive. It is like leaving a limb or my heart behind, and I’m surprised to find that my heart can still beat, and I can function so many miles away from you. And thanks to Skype, I can still ask you about homework and soccer practice.

-To the rest of the family and my friends for being so interested, so invested, so loving, so patient. Especially Lexi for being in tune with my mixed feelings about leaving, for noticing. It’s actually fine 🙂

-To Dr. Parvin and Mother Kelly Demo for letters of recommendation. Thank you for taking time that you didn’t really have in order to do that for me.

-To Margaret and Lionel, for tea and love on the journey through London, for being my other set of parents. Thank you and Phillip for the posh taxi to the airport. Thank you for telling me your stories of Kenya, looking through the Atlas, and teaching me how to order beer in Swahili. I won’t need it on this trip, but will keep it in my back pocket!

-Thank you to Chris and Gewel for covering my “beans” at work while I’m gone.

-Thank you to Lisa, my favorite nurse, for taking care of so many things.

-I’m writing this to you from my dad’s iPad. My sister bought it for him earlier this year two months before he died. I was reluctant to use it. But I think he would be excited to know that it’s here with me, being put to good use. And thanks to my mum and dad whose love always carries me.

-And since I’ve arrived…thank you to my Kenyan seat mates, one on either side of me on the plane from London to Nairobi. For helping me to feel calm, for letting me know a little bit of Kenya and feeling good about it before touching down. To Isaac, for talking to me about haggling, exchange rates, politics, weather, clothes, families. To to the older Indian Kenyan, thank you for being just so kind, lovely, normal.