On my way to Roatán!!!

Hello from Houston, Texas! I’m finally on my way to Roatán. I left Denver at 6 this morning -- yikes! Thanks, Mom and Dad for waking up to take me!! And I really did need their help… I am bringing with me over $2000 worth of donated medical and school supplies!!!!!!!!!! About half of these donations are from friends and family in the Denver area, and the other half is a donated Project C.U.R.E. kit.

This is what 100 pounds of donations looks like!

making sure it was under the weight limit—is there a better way to do this?

and here it all is changing flights at Houston (The two giant green-grey duffle bags. Photos taken from my seat in the airplane.)

So now I’m in Houston and (thank you, coffee) I am able to think about the last couple months and the months ahead. I have already learned so much just by preparing for this experience, and first and foremost, I have learned about the incredible generosity of people, so allow me a moment to give a shout-out to the Castle Rock High Noon Rotary Club, First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, the Castle Pines Rotary Club, Project C.U.R.E. and countless friends and family. I could not be in this airport today without the support (financial and otherwise) of my community.

A lot of people have asked me what I am most excited about. Aside from, um.. EVERYTHING, I am really excited to start to learn about some of the nitty-gritty of healthcare. In the reading and research I’ve done this summer, especially focused on international health outreach (which included some books and lots of reading news articles and blogs about international development, e-mailing or sending twitter messages (seriously) to people who write those articles and blogs) I really feel like I have only barely begun to attempt to scratch the surface of learning what healthcare outreach looks like. This is a little overwhelming (and very humbling). But now, the opportunity is in front of me to see what a couple of these organizations actually look like in action – and I get to be a part of that action! THAT is the thing I am most looking forward to. This opportunity to work in Roatán is a chance to get my foot in the door in the kind of work I see myself doing for a long time.

But, you know, I’m only in Houston now J I’ll be updating from Roatán soon!