'Never have I amassed so many memories in such a short time. People ask, "How was your trip?," and I take a deep breath and stare at them for a moment overwhelmed with so many emotions.
Ideally in that moment we would both be whisked back to the breakfast table in Tanzania and I would start shaking Pili Pili sauce on any and everything as I listened to our alarm clocks still walking around in the distance trying to find someone else to awaken.
Should I begin with the good morning walk to the "long drop," the joy of hearing footsteps bringing hot water for a shower, seeing kids playing along the street and eager to wave at us passing by in the bus as if they spent their whole short life waiting for that moment.
What about us standing around like builders without our hard hats scoping out how we will devise our medical clinic from the space afforded us. Treating the imaginable while trying to avoid lunch (too many locals with worms)...
[Driver] Mohammed's quiet determination to rebuild a bridge; nightly debriefings, even if we were on Lake Victoria; the flexibility of Africa not knowing one hour to the next, where and what we would be doing.
Now tell me, who can honestly say that in one day a medical team could--pack their meds and belongings, attend a ribbon cutting for a school, [set up and hold] a medical clinic, tour an unopened hospital, visit the Archbishop's home, attend a quick church service, have dinner with the Archbishop in a different location, for some take a thirty second shower :) then catch a boat for a ten hour cruise across Lake Victoria? This could not have been scripted!!!'
And it's difficult to put a script to it after our return...but I thought Dyson's quick capture of memories was a great nutshell to share. And of course, a few images from that day to go along with it...
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Jackie, You are such a beautiful person. I feel very blessed to know you.
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