I apologize ahead of time; this blog entry is gonna be all over the place! I hope you can follow my jumble of thoughts; but it’s a perfect representation of the organized chaos going on in my head right now!
Feelings: I’ve been waiting and praying to go on a service trip to Belize since my sophomore year of college. Seattle University sends about eight groups of students and alumni each year to continue the work in Belize City and to help the community get closer to becoming self-sustaining. Jesuit education is notorious for it’s focus on the desire for social justice, which is definitely something I’ve kept in my heart. "God calls you to the place where your deepest gladness and the world's greatest hunger meet." (Frederic Buechner) I am so blessed to be given this opportunity to travel down to Belize to serve; even more blessed to share this experience with two of my bestest friends! =)
Chaos: At the moment, I have stacks of clothes lined up in front of my closet waiting to make their way into the suitcase. There’s a pile of “professional” clothes for my service placements at the Mercy Clinic & YWCA, including simple tshirts and scrub pants. Then I have my leisure clothes; shorts, dresses, skirts…trying to choose clothing that will keep me cool, but still be fairly conservative! My checklist is finished, I just need to put some time aside to physically get everything together!
Then, there’s a balikbayan box sitting in the hallway outside my bedroom door waiting to be filled with donated supplies to bring down to Belize. The box is already about half full, and I still have a bunch of items to pick up from people later this week! Praise God! Huge thanks to our family and friends who generously donated supplies and much needed items (in such short notice!) to our service organizations. Your kind and generous hearts will not go unnoticed! You guys are really awesome!!
Drugs: I thought about taking the medication to prevent malaria (Malarone) since we might be in jungle-ish areas while we zipline, cavetube, and visit the Mayan sites. Talking to my coworkers, who are nurses who have traveled to Belize in the recent past, it seems that it’s neither necessary nor is it the best option. Apparently, Malarone causes strange side effects (i.e., weird dreams!), they said my probability of getting malaria is really low, and it’s the more expensive option in malaria medication. If (God forbid!) I do get exposed to malaria, the treatment medication (doxycycline) is the less expensive option; it’ll knock it right out! (I think…)
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