Shots!!

Now that we're getting closer and closer to the trip, I have found myself wanting to write and write about what I'm thinking. And I decided that the group blog isn't the best place for me to pontificate. :-) So I have decided to start my own Africa 2007 blog.

Getting my shots was the first real big awakening that I'll be going to a part of the world that has a significantly different culture than mine. Yellow Fever and Tetanus in my left arm. Hepatitis A & B in my right arm (one needle for the two "Hep" shots). The muscle where they put the tetanus shot was sore for about three days. The typhoid and malaria are oral vaccines, the typoid is four pills taken every other day over seven days. The malaria is taken daily starting the day before we leave and then once a day every day through the trip and the whole week after returning.

Anyway, these shots have really forced me to think about the living conditions where I'll be going. The fact that so many people live in this place where there are such horrible diseases. And they don't really have such easy access to vaccinations as I do. To them it's just a matter of fact that there are so many killer viruses out there. And if there was any chance of forgetting after I got "stuck" in the arm(s), the soreness of my muscles for several days after served to refresh my memory.

One of the foremost things on my mind as I prepare for this journey is that the "American lifestyle" is so very far from reality for so many millions and millions of people in this world. I would say that we are blessed. And, we are blessed. But maybe living a life devoid of such "blessings" as easy access to quality preventative medical care (etc.) is more "blessed" in some ways ... because one is forced to depend on the Lord for so many more things.

More ponderings later this weekend....