Back to Burkina Faso

I write this post at 5:45am, a time I don't normally see... but thanks to a 7 hour time difference, I've been wide awake for 3 hours already and finally decided to give up on wooing Morpheus and do some work (so instead, I'm writing in my blog).

I had a wonderful trip home - though much more hectic than I expected. In my 4 city tour of Baltimore, Calgary, Victoria & Vancouver, I was able to spend time with friends and family and start thinking about what lies ahead for me. One of the personally tough things about this job is the social isolation - its quite a switch from being a student and having little time to do my own thing, to having all the time in the world - yet somehow I still have trouble finding time to do some things! It was a pleasure to see everyone I spent time with - sadly I ran out of time to see everyone I'd hoped to see.

While I was home, I got to see the new Alberta Children's Hospital - it is an incredible place, so high tech, so huge. But the friendly people are the same. The parent areas seem just great - places for the parents to go unwind a little from the stresses of being in hospital, better palliative care spaces, parent beds in every room (and most of the rooms are single rooms).... (I can't help thinking of the hospital here, with 6 beds to a room about twice as big as the individual patient rooms at ACH; grungy walls, no sinks for washing hands, cockroaches on the bedside stands, no work areas or private places to have discussions with the families...)

Its been good to have some time to reflect on the last 4 months, and get prepared for the next few months. During my absence, things have been moving ahead nicely. We'll have the groundbreaking next week, and I think the renovation of our temporary space is imminent. It also seems that the BIPAI HIV curriculum in French is not too far from being finished. In an hour I'll head back to the hospital; I think I will spend the mornings this week in the other wards that I haven't seen yet.

I think we're lucky that we have some motivated local physicians who have been working really hard on their own to get treatment going for children with HIV; hopefully with the injection of personnel (us), drugs (from Clinton Fdn) and our infrastructure support we'll really make a difference. Because at the end, we are doing this for the ?2000 local children with HIV, most of whom are not receiving treatment.

All the best in 2007; I hope it is a happy & healthy year for you & your loved ones.