Hello reader, M here! As inaugural posts, we thought it would be a good idea to start from the inception of this Kenya scheme, and then take us to the present day. So, come back in time with me to the year 2008-ish.
2008 - After E stole my heart and we were engaged in May, we began to discuss plans for the future. Unfortunately for a medical student (and the spouse of one), this topic primarily consists of the following discussion:
Spouse: "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could do X?! When could we do that?"
Medical Student: "Yeah, that would be fun, but I have to be here for rotations / exams / the school has not yet released our schedule and I have no idea if we can go or not."
After several discussions of similar tenor, we both began to feel a bit constricted by the medical school schedule. Several weeks or months later, while discussing something unrelated, E expressed her desire to visit Africa, which she'd had for a long time. She could never really pinpoint why she wanted to go there, but something piqued her interest.
At this point, E had been working hard at her job in Boston, spending most of her weekends in Cleveland. She was sacrificing time with her friends in Boston, professional development at a job at which she did exceedingly well, and enduring countless delays at Logan Airport, all for our relationship and for my medical career. I wanted to make similar sacrifices for her, but with my scheduling constraints, I felt helpless. Finally, I realized that we could do both: my med school allows for a 5th year of medical school for those who do a year of research, which can be abroad. Perfect! Several weeks had passed since our original conversation and I'm sure it was no longer on E's mind, but one day I said "let's go to Africa!". It took me a little while to convince her that it was actually feasible, but we at least had an outline of a plan now!
I met with several physicians who had research abroad, and settled on one at the Global Health center at school who has been doing infectious disease research on the coast of Kenya for over 15 years. Among other things, his group looks at transmission rates of various disease (malaria, etc.), and the effect of several infectious diseases on newborns (i.e. Mom is infected, what does that do to her baby?). Pretty interesting stuff! His lab and projects are well-established, he was more than willing to have us, and he said the he could find plenty of work for me in Kenya. Sounds good!
Now back to my better half. While it's great to have things set up (relatively) from a research perspective, this leaves E, who is not a medical student, in a more difficult situation, not having anything to do and all. We spoke with several people who spent some time in Kenya with their spouses, and while there are volunteer opportunities (a local school, and orphanage, a rehab clinic), nothing can be set up until arrival. While not ideal, E is being a trooper and taking a leap of faith by showing up in a foreign country without anything formally arranged. I'm truly blessed that I'm married to a woman for whom I am sure this will not be a problem! When we first talked about Kenya, one of the first things out of her mouth was "I want to be fluent in Swahili". Those of you who know E know that she is a sponge, and within the first week of arriving, I know that she will already be teaching me useful phrases and customs so that I don't stand out any more than a 6'7" white guy needs to. I'm a pretty intrepid guy, but it's comforting to know that I'll be exploring with someone who is equally intrepid, not to mention my best friend.
As this blog is now at a length where I may lose my reader before I even had him/her, I'll conclude. In the last several months, we have rented our house to some Irish surgeons, boarded our dog (thanks Mom and Dad), stored and/or loaned our cars, E quit her excellent job, and I've finished third year of medical school. We're approaching the end of the first year of our married lives, and I think that we are both more nervous about this coming year than we were about the past. We're only a few days from departure now, and I kind of can't believe that we're actually doing it. I know that it's going to be amazing, not only because of the once-in-a-lifetime sites and experiences, but also because E and I will get to spend a year together (relatively) unencumbered by medical school and work. I look forward to early morning runs when it's still cool outside, struggling to construct Swahili phrases together, and spending evenings enjoying each other's company, rather than studying for the next test or finishing a powerpoint to meet tomorrow's deadline. We're so fortunate to have the opportunity to share this time together, and we hope that you'll check in from time to time and see what we're up to!
Until next time,
M
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