stick me once, stick me twice.

i went to the travel clinic today and left with a sore arm. it went by very quickly and i have some scheduling to do with my oral typhoid and malaria pills, but all in all, a very good trip. the MD also gave me some informational travel flyers on diarrhea and such. in my right, sore, little arm i received vaccines for: yellow fever, meningitis, polio, hepatitis A, and tetanus/pertussis. i also received mefloquine for malaria, that i'll start taking the week before i leave for nigeria, and oral typhoid pills that i'll start taking possibly tomorrow.

i spoke with two of my internship coordinators last week (kevin specializes in international internships to africa and amy specializes in infectious disease and epi/biostat internships). together, they are a big help to me. my concern with the recent fire at faith alive was put to ease when i spoke with them. they gave me possible solutions to all of the concerns i shared and encouraged me to contact dr. chris. i promptly emailed him with a list of questions to which he responded by the next day. needless to say, i feel much better about the academic component of my internship, especially with dr. chris' guidance. i hope to produce a paper from this experience, and i hope to become more involved with faith alive and international health in my future.

i also heard from sally again, and i managed to get a mailing address. however, she did warn me of the reliability of postal mail in nigeria. so if anyone wishes to send me anything over the summer, i ask for it to be a postcard (in hopes of the decreased desire to steal it). also, an email to give me a heads up would be nice; i'll be sure to keep a look out for anything. snail mail makes me too happy sometimes. here is the address:

Faith Alive Foundation
P.O. Box 745
Jos 930001
Plateau State, Nigeria
ATTN: VIET NGUYEN


tomorrow, i am meeting with one of my international health professors, julia, to discuss specific projects i can design or work on while at faith alive. i have much research to do in the next few weeks. it helps that i am writing a 15 page research paper on drug access in nigeria as a final for my international health class, however stressful it may seem.

less than one month before i land in abuja!