Heading Home

Life is pretty good. I'm sitting in a friend's comfortable apartment in Nairobi as I catch up on projects, internet, and rest. The last week was spent in western Kenya, and was full of tying up loose ends, seeing patients, getting new docs settled into the house, and saying my goodbyes. The warmth and welcoming of the people of Sagam is such that I feel like I'm leaving old friends, and not so much a group of people that I only met a few months ago. I'm thankful for this.

I took the quick 40 minute flight from Kisumu in the west to Nairobi yesterday in order to meet with Megan as we strategize about the present and future of family medicine in Kenya. It's a pretty exciting time. While I've only been in Kenya a short nine weeks, I think we've made a lot of progress. I put together and emailed a document in outline form of the projects we are currently involved in here, and it quickly reached 12 pages (my coworkers may be cursing my name at this very moment).  But the fact is, we've pretty rapidly gotten involved in a lot of projects. Hopefully, the projects are worthwhile, come to fruition, and lead to better education, empowerment, and healthcare for the people of the communities we're starting to serve. This is the beginning of a very long road, but I feel like it's a worthwhile journey.

I just read through the blog of a friend of mine who is facing her second battle with cancer. She's strong, and her writing reflects her wisdom and compassion, as well as her perseverance and humor. I think many of us write in order to try to share our plight with others, to feel less alone in our struggles, and to hope that our reflections on what we're going through can be helpful in times of need for others. Jes does all this with ease and grace. I am thankful for her and her bravery.

I'm off to NorCal for a few months of training in the East Bay and hope to start writing again in December as I return for another trip to Kenya. Thanks everyone for reading.

Paz,

Jeff