Taking care of Business

'Twas the night before lift off.















Sitting in a comfortable room at my folks house in the leafy suburbs. How tomorrow things will be different! A series of flights etc will see me land at my destination on Saturday. A day spent saying goodbye to my flat and my dear, dear flatmates and packing, my mum dutifully sitting ticking from an enormous list of stuff.

It just about fits, but I think I may be a little over the weight limit. Infact the plane may pitch to whichever side my bag is loaded. I have visions of the plane flying in circles for hours around Hounslow!

As you can see from the picture above my 'to-do' list, for so many weeks expanding like an opera singer in a doughnut factory has finally begun to shrink........ Not before time. In fact the last thing on the list is being done now....er...Writing this.

My fractions have remained pretty stable so far (2/3 excited 1/3 terrified). Though as the hours draw nearer (and it's now less than 24 until I go) I feel a deepening sense of reality. Even as late as yesterday I was telling people about the trip with the sensation it was happening to somebody else!

In the last four weeks this venture (rather like Vietnam before it) has become my all encompassing thought. I've explained to all who've asked what I'm doing even though I've only a very sketchy idea myself. Though found it harder to answer the real question behind it, namely, why?. I guess I'll never know how this is going to be until I've done it, survived and left.

Earlier this week I met up with two friends who have been to where I am going. They provided a insight into what challenges lie ahead in a way that only those who have been there can. Neither of them will ever know, fully, how helpful those meetings were and I feel I am going into this standing on the shoulders of giants. My sincerest thanks must go to them. Whilst in my Oscar acceptance mode (tissues at the ready..) I must also thank my wonderful friends and family for their encouraging support, I really would not be here without you all I have been hugely humbled by your messages and love.

Right, enough misty-eyed gooieness.

At this point I better also make an apology, my spelling is atrocious! I've tried to spell check this but as the weeks and months go on I cannot guarantee this will happen. Just be grateful this is typed and not handwritten otherwise the spelling would be the least of your worries! Did you hear about the dyslexic devil worshiper who sold his soul to Santa? Poor spelling and rubbish jokes, I'd stop reading now!!!

For those of you not put off by the poor nature of the last paragraph I am indeed impressed, I can't promise it will get any funnier, but stick around regardless as I think this might at least get a bit more interesting!!!!

Loads to do, and a worrying lack of time with which to do it, must go, Africa here we go.

D-day - 5

So it's just under a week until I go. At the moment I'm not sure it has really sunk in. I'm spending all evenings saying farewell to friends, the day times are spent in camping shops, and Boots the chemist purchasing an inconceivably large amount of stuff. Ponchos, Solar powered charger for my Ipod, and a tourniquet (ok that’s a lie I stole one from work!)

The last of my jabs happened yesterday, I’ve got quite used to having the strength of a dead sloth in my arms so it will be nice to have them return to normal. Moving house has been a bit stressful and the rest of my life revolves around a hectic social whirl of dinners and drinks, I’m sorry to those I haven’t seen, I’ll bore you with photos when I get back!
Must stop writing, I’ll scribble some more soon.

A bit about me

That's one small move of the mouse, one giant leap for blogging kind!!!!

As I'm not actually in Africa yet, I thought I'd write a bit about letting you all know what I'm doing to get ready for this experience.

First off a bit of legal stuff (stop yawning at the back there)

Basically I’m going to a country in Africa (Not many people know which one, thankfully I do). The problem is that the mission I’m going on is in a difficult and insecure area.

As well as a large amount of armaments the main protagonists also have access to the web. Therefore in the interests of not compromising the safety and security of myself or the other people around me I’m not going to write about where I am working or the names of specific places, or the name of the organisation i'm going with, which does sound all a little bit secretive but if I didn't do it this way, this might end up being the shortest blog in history!
I’m not actually sure it’s that important to know anyway as this online diary is not about providing a running political commentary on the country in question. It is more about being an outlet for my thoughts and feelings on the issues and events that will confront me.

Monday, a few weeks ago, I accepted the position of nurse with an aid agency. This basically involves wandering around the countryside to various health clinics doing a bit of teaching and..... Well.... Rather than try and explain, read over the next few months and you’ll find out what I’ll do (and so, hopefully, will I!!!) I am thinking I might start taking bets on how closely the job description matches the actual job. Certainly no job, I've ever had has resembled the role advertised.

So me, in a paragraph, or two.

Born in St Thomas's Hospital (on the river Thames) in London on the 21st July 1981. To Roger and Hilary. Very happy childhood in the southeast corner of England, with one brother Julian. A spectacularly average school career ended with three A-levels but not a lot of direction.

So the direction taken was east. More specifically Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. There, though a series of happy (and not so happy) accidents I found myself both in a children’s medical centre and a vocation.

Three years in sunny (!) Liverpool, doing an adult nursing degree and three years in London doing a kiddy nursing degree, and a variety of other courses left me both sick of essays, exam phobic and ready to go back to the developing world for round two.
Well the gumsheild's back in, I'm off the stool and the bell has rung, here we go!