heading back

One week from today, Lauren, Terri and I will fly to Rwanda. This will be my fourth visit to teach anesthesia and help support the improvement of anesthesia care in Rwanda. I am very excited about seeing my many friends again. It will be the first trip to Rwanda for Lauren and Terri. Lauren spent a month in Uganda as a medical student, working in a busy and severely resource challenged obstetrical hospital. Terri has worked in pain management in Southern India. Both are seasoned travellers and delightful people.

I have so many goals for the trip it is hard to know where to begin. Probably my greatest hope is that by returning to Rwanda I can show how much I care about my friends, colleagues and the Rwandan people. I want to share my certainty that they can be truly excellent. As always, I want to learn from them. How can people who have lived though so much and continue to experience such challenges every day be so warm and open-hearted? The learning goes both ways.