Preparation

We leave Wednesday!  We're hurriedly packing... but I thought I'd share a quick rundown of all the things we've done to prepare for the trip. (Mostly this is just a packing list posing as a blog post).

• Vaccinations:  Yellow Fever (you can't get into Africa without this vaccine), Typhoid, Meningitis, Hepatitis A (and I had Tdap).  We used the Passport Health Clinic and Richland County Health Department to get most of the shots.  We would recommend the Passport Health Clinic, which is also recommended by the CDC, if traveling to a third world country.  They gave us lots of good advice and a general orientation on how to stay healthy there.   They were really helpful.
• Kenyan Travel Visa:  We had to actually send our passports to the Kenyan consulate in LA to get the travel visas.  A little scary, trusting our passports in the mail, but they came back to us promptly and safely.
• Documentation: plane tickets, travel insurance, and all the phone numbers, addresses and contact people we're relying on along the way.
• Reading:  We made a couple of trips to the library for travel guides and literature surrounding Kenya, Africa, and medical mission work.  More on this later.
• Medications:  It would be easier to list the drugs we are leaving behind.  We're taking a little bit of everything you can find over the counter.  Prescription drugs include our malaria medication and Cipro in case of infection.  And lots of bug spray to prevent mosquitoes from eating us alive and spreading disease.  Another interesting suggestion we got from the clinic: taking garlic supplements to help repel mosquitoes.  We began that regiment a month ago.
• Snacks:  Everyone we've talked to who has spent time in rural Africa suggested bringing granola bars, pop-tarts, and trail mix.  I have to admit this doesn't seem like a necessity and we get pretty tired of this kind of food.  This will be the last thing I try to cram in the suitcase.
• Clothing:  Matthew will get away with scrubs, Carharts, and button down shirts for the majority of the trip.  My dress code is a little more specific.  Long, flowing skirts only.  No pants, definitely nothing above the knee.  And no shirts that are too tight fitting, no shoulder exposure.  We just ruled out 90% of my wardrobe.  So I went ahead and bought a few loose tops and made skirts for the trip, more on that here.  The weather should be wet, with temps between 60-80 degrees.
• Odds and Ends: fun things like flashlights and umbrellas, power adapters and sunglasses.

And of course, there is much more.... but we really are trying to pack light.  Hopefully we can practice this tomorrow.