Last field day :(

I have just finished my last field visits. It’s hard to believe that my time in Karonga is virtually up, and that I’m only in Malawi for another 8 days! This afternoon I’m presenting to the District Health Officers here in Karonga, which will be my final outbriefing with them before I head back to Lilongwe tomorrow. After almost two weeks of meeting five new people every day and seeing our work first hand, it’s going to be hard to return to desk work for the next week, not to mention returning to my regular work in Boston. One thing I’ve known about myself for a while, and this trip has only confirmed, is that I like to be on the front lines – it makes me feel like I’m doing the real hands on work, and even though I know things like budgets and logistics are important, it’s harder to get excited about working in Excel for hours than it is to get excited about seeing 50 women show up to a clinic day, ready to start a family planning method. In the end, I know that field work is the direction I want to go in, and the desk work will help me get there someday.

Though I’m sad to leave the work here, I am excited to leave the heat! Lilongwe is hot, but not as hot as Karonga. I feel like I’m in a constant sweaty slime, except for the 10 minutes immediately after a shower. The return of water pressure will be good, too.