Hello friends!!! In approximately  18 hours I will be on [several] planes to Lilongwe, Malawi, followed by a 1 hour car ride to the rural village of Namitondo to work in Saint Gabriel’s hospital. There is no doubt that this will be a life-changing experience and I’m truly a mixture of emotions.

First and foremost, I am excited. I am so incredibly thankful to Rice for giving me this opportunity to learn about new people, places, and opportunities for technology advancement. I am so ready to test our technologies and find chances for improvement.

I am busy. Renata (my internship partner) and all the other BTB interns and I have spent the last two to three weeks in the OEDK preparing our technologies. We will be bringing four major technologies: the CPAP heating system, the thermometers made by a GLHT 360 team last year, an updated flow splitter, and the Respiratory Rate Timer that my team and I made this semester (pictured below).

I am nervous and curious.  I am going to a place where I don’t know the language, culture, the food, or the people. I’m uncertain of how daily life will go, but I’m eager to learn.

I am sad to leave. This is the longest and farthest I will be a way from my loving caring family. I know that I am giving my mom and dad major heart palpitations.  I will miss my brother Obi coming back from his first year of medical school. I will miss my sister Ngozi getting ready for Emory University. And I will miss my youngest sister Nneka turning sixteen and rushing to get her driver’s license. I will miss all the little details.

I am ready. See you in Malawi!