Mid Term Review

I have returned to Mombasa from India. I had an absolutely amazing time in India, I was amazed to see the progress that has been made in India since my last trip in 02. Mumbai is a city like no other and I hope to return there soon. So upon my return to Kenya, in the plane as we touched down in Nairobi, the captain came on to announce Obama’s victory. Kenya is amass with Obama-mania, to the point that today (Nov 6th) has been declared a public holiday in honour of his election. Any excuse to have a holiday – go fig.

So. Its November. I have reached the halfway mark. 4 months from now, if I’m not already home, I’ll be packing up to come home. Home. What a wonderful word. That sentence in itself probably illustrates where my mindset is. Maybe because it’s the half point, maybe b/c I felt so at home in India, but the concept of home has been on my mind a lot.

But first, I’m halfway there. And frankly, I think that that in itself is an accomplishment. Whether or not you agree, its my blog and I’ll say what I want J. Its been a…well..i don’t really know what to say about the 1st half here. I think I have accomplished a lot both personally and professionally. Highlights of the first half? Well, first and foremost, safarin’ in Masai Mara and probably right up there as well is of course India. But aside from big travels, also the side trips, Malindi, Nairobi, and just up and down the coast and travelling throughout the province. I think I have seen pretty a lot of Mombasa. I’ve eaten table fulls of nyama choma (grilled meat), I’ve spent numerous afternoons on the beach, I’ve seen the fort (finally), I’ve walked the streets, I’ve partied till sunrise, and of course, matatu’s I take everyday. That’s not to say there’s nothing left, whatever’s left will just be icing on the cake.

Professionally, I’m happy to say that my org. has been successful in procuring that big grant I was talking about earlier so for now the future of CHD looks secure and I am not as concerned about what I am going to do in the 2nd half. It was a much needed morale boost for the organization and with that grant, hopefully we won’t have to let go of as many staff as first thought. I had a really great experience right before I left for India where I had the chance to spend an afternoon teaching part of a course. The course was for health professionals on proposal writing and my supervisor and I were tasked with teaching about monitoring and evaluation. Specifically my section that I taught was on indicator selection, data sources and gantt charts. It was surreal to be in front of that class, so different than any teaching experience I’ve had in Canada. My attempts to engage the class with some laughs was met with silence – woops! But just need to work them in a bit, and get them going with some exercises. As always, time does not exist anywhere and exercises that I had planned to take 20 min. went on for an hour despite my pleas to finish and present. So in the end I had to rush it a bit, but all in all, it was a challenge but something I’m really glad I got the opportunity to do.

My formal mid-term review with my supervisor went well and it was a good confidence boost. I got some validation when my supervisor indicated that I should consider the opportunity to extend my contract beyond February. That was about 2 weeks ago, and I think in those 2 weeks I have come to the conclusion (based on further discussions with my supervisor) that I will not pursue an opportunity to extend my contract and return home. So that’s my formal declaration. I’m coming back. And I know that it’s the right decision because when I say it in my mind it makes me smile and really, that’s all that matters.

So what comes next? Well, with our new EC grant there is plenty of opportunity to get involved and help make some changes in the org to prevent some of the challenges we’ve had in the past. There is a new initiative of health and schools that my director wants me to spearhead so I’m looking forward to that. In December we will get 2 weeks off for xmas in which a bunch of interns will be coming to Mombasa, and then a few of us will be going on a safari in the Ngorongoro crater (Tanzania) before we all meet again in Zanzibar for new years – I can’t wait!! And of course, the ultimate experience is still in my dream – kili.

So cheers to the 1st half and here’s to the 2nd half. May it be full of good learning, good life, and good laughs. My heartfelt thanks to everyone for their love, support, and encouragement so far. Whether you respond to my blog, post on my wall, email me, call me, or whatever, believe when I say I could not have made it this far without it, so keep it coming! The 1st half was great, not perfect, but great. It can’t be perfect, nothing’s perfect, you always make mistakes. But one of the greatest things I’ve learned (that I think I always knew but just hadn’t paraphrased yet) is that a mistake only becomes a failure when you don’t learn from it. Twende!