Interview with Dr. Cristy Shank

Very interesting interview with Dr. Shank from Malamulo Hospital. This hospital is about an hour south of where we will be.

Check it out: click here :)

First visit to Blantyre, January 2010

Some pictures from our first visit to Blantyre, Malawi. We went in January 2010 to scout it out and meet everyone there. We had never met most of these people before. Except Cristy Shank who now works at Malamulo Hospital about an hour south of Blantyre, who I knew from medical school.

There will also be another family we know, Dr. Ryan Hayton and his wife Sharlene and their two kids have now moved to Malamulo Hospital, 1 hour south of us. Ryan is a general surgeon. We look foward to seeing them occasionally too!

Equipment

Over the past 5 months we have been fund-raising for equipment for the cardiology clinic.  I need a minimum of 3 essential items to start a cardiology clinic: a cardiac ultrasound, a treadmill, and a table to do echo imaging. We are finally VERY close to having those 3 items! Special thanks to all the people who donated so generously and to the Auxiliary for the Loma Linda School of Medicine who have made it their goal to raise $15,000 towards the echo (ultrasound) machine! Because of the relatively difficult logistics of waiting until all the money is raised and then trying to ship a machine to me in Africa. And also so that I can start the clinic soon after landing in Malawi, rather than waiting an unknown amount of time for the machine to arrive. I am pleased to write that Adventist Health International (AHI: website is www.adventisthealthinternational.org) agreed to purchase an ultrasound for me to hand carry with me on our way over! We are very excited! Though, we know that the money still needs to get raised to pay them back. If anyone reading this wants to help contribute, you can do so through AHI via phone or check (contact info on their website) or via paypal by clicking here. PLEASE be sure to specify the funds are for "Cardiology Malawi" on the memo line or in the "notes" section of PayPal, so I can use them towards the echo machine specifically.

Introduction

I guess this entry should have been first. We assumed people coming to our blog would know what we are doing. But it turns out that isn't always going to be true.

By way of introduction, I am a cardiologist. Just finished my cardiology fellowship at the University of Utah in June. Then worked at the Loma Linda VA cardiology section for 5 months while getting ready to move to Blantyre, Malawi to start a cardiology clinic and ICU at Blantyre Adventist Hospital. My husband, Darryl, has a degree in Sociology, and yes, he knew I was thinking about moving to Africa for humanitarian and mission work BEFORE he married me! I have done humanitarian work overseas before, including a year in Peru during college, short trips to Brazil, Honduras, Russia, Mexico, Haiti and a month each at hospitals in Uganda and Nigeria.

Juliaca, Peru

Orphanage near Moscow, Russia

Several pictures working in Uganda

Ile Ife, Nigeria

Haiti

Head lice, Ensenada Mexico

Pictures

 Loading up the moving van!!

Very nice article in the local newspaper about our move to Malawi. I was actually working at the VA hospital at the time and Malawi is in southern africa...

Thoughts on "stuff"

As we planned for moving, and then as we actually packed the boxes and the shipping container, my thoughts turned to be about our stuff. We have a lot of stuff. After 5 years of marriage we have collected boxes of things. None of it is worth any money. Most of our furniture is hand-me-downs from when I finished medical school and finally moved into my own apartment with no roommate. But, most of it we use frequently, like our dishes and our kitchen appliances, the vacuum, the couches, rugs, bed, dressers, bookcases, and camping gear. Some things we only rarely use. Like our bikes and wetsuits and my grandmothers china. But, it is all gone now. In a shipping container headed to Blantyre, Malawi. We'll get there before it does. We are living out of suitcases for the next 3 months.  It's a difficult thing to prioritize what exact things you need in 2 suitcases for the next 2 months. Including what you need when you land in a new country, and don't know ahead of time what items will be most helpful there. Though, we got nice tips from friends who moved recently to Cameroon and to another part of Malawi.

But we also worry about our stuff. Why take it all to a continent and country with so many people who don't have as much stuff as we do. We left the bird feeder behind. How can you feed the birds when so many children are malnurished? But I am conflicted. One side of me says, we should prepare well, take enough supplies to run the whole house off solar panels. Live off the grid. Don't worry if the city power goes off, our back up solar will kick in. We could bring our own food and transformers and water filters. But, then the other side of me says, just leave it all here and live like they do there. Throw out all the food when the power goes off and the food in the refrigerator spoils. Why set up ourselves as "white people" who have a lot of stuff? That is not our intent. But it's too late now. Everything has been packed and sent off.

It is an odd transition. I am still working here for 2 more weeks, but I am becoming more focused on the issues that await me when I land in Blantyre.  I still have one more board examination to sit for next week (that I should be studying for now). And still have some fundraising to do for the equipment I need. But, over all I think we are ready. Well, as ready as one can be. I alternate between feeling excited and ready and feeling overwhelmed and terrified. But, I just tell myself that is "normal" for someone moving overseas to start something new. We've met people that shared with us all the tears they cried while moving overseas. I haven't gotten to that point yet. But there are days I feel very stressed.

It Begins!

Our life in Blantyre, Malawi is about to begin.  Yesterday, the shipping container filled with all our worldly possessions, drove away from our apartment.  It was sealed at 3pm on December 1, and should leave Los Angeles by rail on December 3.  It will sail from the east coast sometime next week and should make port in Mozambique by the beginning of February.
For now we will live out of three suitcases each.
More to come, with pictures of the contaimer...
Darryl