take the long way home

we are sitting in a crowded, slow internet cafe in nairobi listening to alternating r kelly and whitney houston... kenyans love divas, r&b and turning up their speakers waaaay louder than the manufacturers' recommendations. i think they believe that the piercing treble rasps and the distorted blaring bass are a legitimate part of the music.

anyways, we are off to zanzibar tomorrow, after a travel day yesterday and a nairobi errand day today. we (read i) were hoping to visit josh in the sudan before we left, but unfortunately were unable to swing the space on a supply plane with enough certainty to plan on it. i am quite disappointed about it, but kylie is ecstatic that 1. we are not going to the sudan and 2. it is not because she said no.

skipping the trip to the sudan shortened our time in kapsowar slightly but we are ok with this. lately the work in the hospital has been quite stressful, with various doctors gone (including me) and lots of running around for the ones still around. perhaps b/c our time there is drawing to a close, i have allowed the frustrations of poor nursing care and limited resources get to me more than they did previously.

i have also seen some really happy things recently, such as a baby that was born at 29 weeks (2 months early) leaving the hospital strong and chubby (after almost 2 months of care). another baby that i decided (after much deliberation) to deliver by c section at 31 weeks despite the risks came out screaming and vigourous and ready to take on the world.

working in kapsowar for over 8 months now i have had the pleasure of numerous followup visits. i ran our diabetic clinic last month and knew all the patients (even if only by face and blood sugar, if not by name). just before we left for the coast i saw a young boy walk into outpatients who i vaguely recognized. after opening his chart i realized that i had last seen him paralyzed from the waist down and sent him for emergency surgery to another larger mission hospital. he had about $1.50 to his name at the time, but the missionary hospital system (and his equally destitute cousin) managed to help him with expensive transport, surgery and recovery regardless. i also saw a man i didnt recognize at all who was asking me to write a letter for his work. opening his chart i was amazed to see that he was one of the most seriously injured people i had seen on that crazy matatu accident/maternity emergency/leopard attack day early in our time in kapsowar. he had suffered a broken foot, a galleazi fracture of the right arm (reduced successfully by yours truly!) and a severe head injury, but is now walking and talking and asking when he can go back to work!

so it is with mixed feelings that we prepare for our departure from kapsowar. however we are nothing but excited about our time in zanzibar. after 3 weeks of sun and seafood it is back to kapsowar for 2 more weeks of working and packing before we leave for egypt to meet josh and ty and kelsey. we truly are taking the long way home.