From Square One

On December 9th 2009, I graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing with my masters in nursing. While I wait to take my certification exam for my new career as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, I have decided to take a 6 week trip to Tanzania Africa and work at a local medical clinic in Arusha, Tanzania.
Preparing for a 6 week stay in a 3rd world country providing care for the local population takes more time and effort than one might assume. There are the obvious things like booking your flights, finding an organization to connect you with a community in need, and your inevitable VISA's you will be required to obtain prior to departing the US. The real headache begins with the multiple travel vaccines which your health insurance will not cover, even though they are to help PREVENT disease and illness of their insured customers. Once you have figured out which ones you need, you must then find a clinic who will administer them (keeping in mind the out-of-pocket costs). After your vaccines, you are STILL not in the clear for traveling. You need to obtain anti-malaria medications which must be taken daily starting before you even leave the US and continuing through anywhere between 1 -4 weeks after you return. Don't forget to pack a good broad spectrum antibiotic, just in case! As a nurse, don't get me started about all the "just in case" medications that should be highly considered on a trip like this.
After working all the medical aspects out, I focused my attention to collecting donations for the local people of Arusha that I will be encountering. I send out numerous e-mails to different "big name" company's (who shall all remain nameless since they all turned me down). In the end my e-mailing efforts resulted in 100 donated toothbrushes! I was thrilled! This generous donation got me motivated again. I sent out several more e-mails to "big name" companies in search of small packs of crayons for the children at a near by orphanage in Arusha. Again denied! With the air knocked out of my sails once again I turned locally to my Baltimore community. This seemed to have resulted the best turn out. I obtained 5 sets of hospital issued scrubs (for my own personal use), gauze pads, 2 boxes of medical gloves (also for my own use), a box of masks, a very large box of condoms (1008 to be exact), a huge stack of HIV/AIDS/STD information pamphlets, over 80 packs of flash cards (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, alphabet and sight words for the kids at the orphanage) and variety of smaller medical supplies and small soaps. I now take a step back and am thoroughly impressed with my family, friends and community for helping me gather all the items to take with me to give to those in need. While this was definitely the most time consuming part of my pre-travel plans, it has resulted in the most rewarding outcomes. But I am certain it will be nothing compared to the rewards I receive from my travels.