Take A Walk In My Shoes

Happy 2017 everyone! I hope those of you who took a look at my workout document enjoyed it because I definitely enjoyed creating it!

So, I have about 7 months left in my service. It's a good amount of time but definitely short compared to the entire 2 years.  I feel like over the course of my service I've given you snapshots as to what my service looks like, but today, I want you to walk in my shoes from the time I got up to the time I head to bed with the sun.

05:00 - The alarm is going off on my phone telling me I have a half hour before I have to be outside the health center for our morning run.
Right when I got back from my trip home my counterpart Etienne informed me that he was starting to get some people together to run each morning. He was inspired by a training he had previously attended and is pushing fellow staff members and the community to exercise more and eat healthier to prevent non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. Obviously I was on board!

05:30 - Etienne, the night staff and I head out on our run. While running we chant/sing in Kinyarwanda together. These morning runs are a great morning jolt even before my morning coffee.

06:30-0730 - Getting ready for work. I make coffee immediately after my run (obviously) and this week I'm on a "plain oatmeal with banana and cinnamon" kick for breakfast. I eat, make myself look presentable for work, and start the day.

07:30 - Each morning we have our staff meeting to go over the night report (patients who came during the night, pregnant women waiting for delivery, and patients in hospitalization) and assign everyone their tasks for the day. Today I had a number of tasks!

08:00-13:30 - Today I started in my normal spot, the pharmacy, making sure everything that is needed was there and totaling up the drugs dispensed yesterday. 
Today was also vaccination day so while Etienne saw some general services patients I measured all the babies coming for vaccinations to screen for malnutrition.  We've recently starting weighing and measuring the height of all the babies so we can keep track of their growth and directly educate to mothers about how to prevent malnutrition especially since we know they will be back for the next round of vaccinations on a few weeks.
After weighing and measuring about 20 babies (luckily today was a small number!) I registered all of them in the record book. It may sound simple but reading difficult names in difficult handwriting is no walk in the park.
After finishing with vaccinations I head back to the pharmacy and help pass out medicine to the remaining patients for a couple hours.  Then off to lunch!

13:30-15:30 - Yep! You read that time right.  In general I get between 2 hrs and 30 min for lunch depending on the activities that day.  This week's lunches are sweet potatoes and beans.  Now these sweet potatoes aren't your typical orange sweet potatoes you see in the grocery store.  They are whitish on the inside with purplish skin.  A lot of volunteers don't necessarily like them but I really like them.  My favorite thing to make with them is a sweet potato egg scramble.  

So, during lunch I eat, have my afternoon coffee and since being back from the states I've been using this time to study for the NASM personal trainer test.  It's a great use of my down time and it'll help me be able to take the test as soon as I get back.  

15:30-17:00 - Once lunch is over and I've cleaned up a little I head back to the health center to do any afternoon work that needs to be done.  A lot of the tie this isn't a lot but right now we are preparing for our mosquito net distribution next week.  This means that a the Community Health workers bring in their lists of how many beds are in each household I get to check their math and add up all of the beds by hand.  I must say that between adding up the number of drugs dispensed each day and now this task my mental math skills are probably at their peak.  Another useful skill to bring back with me.  So in these last couple of hours I do a lot of adding and comparing as well as helping to pass out medications to the few patients who come in the afternoon.  

After, I pack up my stuff say good night and head home for the evening.

17:00--> Right when I get home I change into my workout clothes and do my resistance training workout (leg day today!).  I've been trying to get it done right when I get off work so that I still have some daylight.  You see, the light bulb in my living room where I do my workouts is burnt out and I'm too short to change it so I've been putting off getting it fixed.  I'll get to it eventually.  So I workout then sit outside for the remainder of the light.  I chat with Speciose, the girl who comes to take care of my garden.  Then once she heads home I clean up, get some things organized and get under my mosquito net.  I've come to really appreciate the barrier it creates between me and the annoying buzzing of those little guys. 

Before falling asleep I'll either watch some tv or read.  Right now I'm reading the series "Throne of Glass".  It's incredible and I recommend it to everyone!  Yes I'm asleep between 9 and 10, but what other tie in my life will I be able to sleep that early without getting real strange looks? 

So there you have it a day in my life!  It may not be glamorous and it may not be as full of "adventures" as you thought but it's my reality and I absolutely love it.  

Over the time that I've been writing this blog I've felt as if I've started finding my voice, a voice that is generally pretty quiet and reserved.  I want you to know that as part of my resolutions this year I'm planning on holding back less and writing more, not just updates but real going beyond the surface.  So get ready and keep reading!

Finally, thank you all for supporting me and loving me as always and thanks for taking this walk in my shoes.  I now encourage you to take a walk in another person's shoes.  Someone with different beliefs, different ideas, different lifestyles, etc. The only way to truly learn about the world and ourselves is to step out of our tiny bubble and realize that there is more to the picture and more to the world.  We're all apart of the same world and it's time we start acting like it.  <3 nbsp="" p="">

***pictures to come when I can get better internet but check out my Facebook and Instagram!