What money can buy...

Brynne and I spent a couple hours today sorting through all the supplies that we'll be taking with us to Uganda. Our friendly medical supply rep, Fred, dropped off our order at UBC this morning. Boxes and boxes of gloves, 10 delivery sets (which contain scissors, clamps, forceps, and needle drivers), stethoscopes, suture material, blood pressure cuffs, IV catheters, a doppler. As we were dividing this bounty up between the five big duffel bags, I was thinking of all the folks out there who have donated money to support our midwifery efforts in Uganda. How amazing it is to be able to arrive in Kampala and Masaka with these supplies, some to be used by us in our work with birthing women, much to be left at the hospitals when we leave. I am full of thanks for the generosity of my community - your support is incredibly appreciated.

It was all feeling so much more real today - we leave in 4 days. Tuesday night, 8:45pm, there will 8 of us flying out of Vancouver International Airport, headed for London, and then on to Kampala. I am ready for this experience - to be immersed in a country and culture that is not my own, to be challenged by a reality that is so different from the reality of maternity care in Canada, to have the privilege to participate daily in the simple miracle of birth by receiving women's wee babes into my hands while doing my best to ensure they have a safe delivery. On another level, I'm sure that I'm completely unprepared for this experience and that there will be times where I'm overwhelmed, disheartened, scared. But I feel so strongly that I learn the most when I'm outside my own comfort zone. That's part of the reason I'm going to Uganda. In four days. Oh my goodness...the list is long!