And We're Off Again...

We will be reviving the blog with more frequency for the next few months...

If you haven't heard yet, and it's likely you haven't because we are WAY behind on updating people, we are heading to Kenya in 2.5 weeks! Since Nate is in his last year of residency, he gets an elective rotation. He got permission to go to Tenwek, Kenya to work at Tenwek Hospital. Tenwek is a well-established missionary hospital in the Rift Valley (read more info here). To our knowledge, Tenwek has the only 5 year orthopedic residency training program in all of Africa. There are other ortho residency programs in Africa, but they are much shorter. Nate is really interested in learning about how the Tenwek ortho residency program works to see if it is something he could do in Tanzania in the future.



Tenwek Location  (thanks to google maps)

If you look closely at that map, you will see that Arusha, Tanzania (where we went in 2011) is southeast of the Tenwek marker just over the border. We are really excited about going, but we also are really behind in getting ready for the trip. Here are some FAQs about our trip.

• When are you going?

We depart Indy Feb 3, go through Detroit, Amsterdam, and arrive in Nairobi on Feb 4. We will spend a few days in Nairobi and then head to Tenwek (a few hours drive). We fly back from Nairobi Apr 11-12. We'll be gone just shy of 10 weeks.

• What will Nate be doing?

He will be operating and seeing patients at the hospital alongside the other orthopedic surgeons and residents there.  

• What will you and Elijah be doing?

I will continue to work remotely for my employer about 2 days a week. The rest of they time, we will probably be hanging out with other families, exploring, visiting kids in the hospital. Who knows? We're intentionally leaving it open until we get there and figure out what opportunities there are for us.

Mug Shot - Have you ever tried to get a two year old to stand still and look at the camera without making a goofy face? It took about 30 takes and a bribe of marshmallows.

• What will the weather be like?

Pretty moderate during the day and cool in the evenings. It may be a bit rainy.

• Where will you stay?

 The hospital has a living compound with visiting staff housing.

• What is the time difference?

We will initially be 8 hours ahead of EST until Daylight Savings begins again on March 13. Then we will be 7 hours ahead of EST.

As usual, I (Rebecca) will do most of the posting with an occasional post from Nate which will be specified. Don't hesitate to contact us by email or phone if you have questions about our upcoming trip. If you would like some more information on how to partner with us on this trip, let me know and I'll send you some info.

We'll post some prayer requests in the near future!!