far away

"far away, far away, far... far away we want to go, we want to go, some day, some da-a-a-a-aay" Sophie Maurin, Far Away

For the majority of my life I have wanted to live overseas. I remember as a teenager at high school I would bring back all these pamphelts about foreign exchange, dreaming that my parents could afford to send me overseas, especially to Canada. Then during uni I would look at the exchange program, only for them to tell me my grades weren't good enough, besides the fact that I had no money.

Everything changed when I went to a  public lecture at Melbourne Uni regarding some thing about sustainable development, and the guy said something like "everyone thinks that in order to do aid work you have to be a doctor or a nurse, but that's not true. Every single profession is required on the field; from CEO's of companies teaching business, to bankers helping in micro-finance, to Lab technicians helping in the lab, to teachers and physios and lawyers and basically everyone can be used. And if it's not your thing to go work overseas, then you can be used here, by earning money to send those people who want to go".

That one statement changed my whole outlook on life.

I hope that it changes yours too.

You might not have thought about the fact that  your job could be useful overseas, but as a banker you have incredible knowledge of how to manage finances, which such education is lacking in many parts of the world.

You might think that you might not be able to physically go overseas, but you have a few hours spare that you could do some online volunteering for the UN: http://www.unv.org/

You earn money to send people like myself to go and volunteer - shameless plug: www.youcaring.com/get-anita-to-kakamega/

You are parents or siblings or partners of people who have a desire to be useful; your love and support means more to those people than you will ever know.

Everyone can be useful. You have been born for such a time as this.

good air

I've decided that the city of "good air" is now one of my favourite - the food, the culture, the history, the politics, the people, the language, the buildings, the shopping... I'm talking about Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Before arriving, South America didn't appear to be that far away.... just the next continent along on the map (when Australia is in the middle). However, after a 4 hours to Sydney, 5 hours to Auckland, 13 hours to Santiago and 1.5 hours to Buenos Aires, I realised that either a) South America is far far away, b) Australia is very isolated from the rest of the world or c) both answers are true.

Despite this fact, I landed on my feet ready to go. Having done my research, I got on the bus with a lion on it, which got me directly to my hostel without having to deal with taxis or speaking much Spanish. boom, small victory. However, my attempt at getting dinner turned out to be disastrous, trying to order margarita pizza and ending up with a piece of plain toasted pizza base... I have no idea what went wrong.

My hostel was amazing, and if you're going to stay in Buenos Aires and want to meet people, then I definitely recommend staying at Milhouse Avenue (not Hipo). That's where I met Camilo, Carolina, Heidi, Fanny and a whole bunch of other people that were amazingly fun. I do not recommend staying at Hostel Suites Florida. Yuck. 

There are plenty of places to get free wi-fi in Buenos Aires, but my favourite is the Starbucks near the Obelisco, drinking a Dulce de Leche frappucino and watching people walk past. Good times. And the bathrooms there are big enough for you to take all your luggage in and get changed. 

If you love books, you have to go to El Ateneo. There's several around (two on Florida Ave), but we went to see the big one that is an old theater transformed into a four story book store. Amazing. I actually bought Persuasion (Jane Austen) in Spanish. One day I will read it. 

There were so many delicious meals I ate there, most of them containing fried potatoes in some fashion, especially when you go to a restaurant named El Palacio de la Papa Frita (the palace of fried potato). Meat was plentiful, and dulce de leche is incredible. I love chimmichurri, so much so that I brought a cookbook about traditional Argentine cuisine - it's in Spanish (yes, I bought it from El Ateneo).

This is my overview of Buenos Aires. There's so much more I will tell you of my time in Argentina... 

In the mean time, have you checked out what I'm doing next year? Click the "my year in Kenya" tab up above!

Ken-YAAH!

My first ever assignment at uni was and essay for Biology1011 titled "Describe the epidemiology of Cholera and discuss whether the world is in the grips of an eighth pandemic". From that moment on I was hooked - I fell in love with infectious diseases. Sure it's not a conventional relationship, but you can't deny that it isn't successful - on this love I've moved to London, completed two Masters degrees and am now going to Kenya for a year. 

That's right, Kenya, for a year. Doing infectious disease epidemiological research, i.e. "public health work".

As written about in my last post, I am going to Kenya in February 2015 for a year with the Foundation of Sustainable Development. More specifically I'm going to Kakamega, a town in western Kenya, 52km north of Kisumu and about 30km north of the equator. The people are mostly of the Luhya tribe. Two-thirds of the almost 100,000 people in Kakamega live below the poverty line. Agriculture and fishing are the main source of income for the locals. Healthcare is sporadic, and (most excitingly), there are many, many, infectious diseases there.

Here's a list of a few infectious diseases that I might encounter (source):

food or waterborne diseases acquired through eating or drinking on the local economy:  Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, Typhoid fever 

vectorborne diseases acquired through the bite of an infected arthropod: Malaria, Dengue fever, Yellow fever, Japanese Encephalitis, African Trypanosomiasis, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Plague, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Rift Valley fever, Chikungunya
water contact diseases acquired through swimming or wading in freshwater lakes, streams, and rivers: Leptospirosis, Schistosomiasis 

aerosolized dust or soil contact disease acquired through inhalation of aerosols contaminated with rodent urine: Lassa fever
respiratory disease acquired through close contact with an infectious person: Meningococcal meningitis, tuberculosis
animal contact disease acquired through direct contact with local animals: Rabies 

Excited? I am! You might think that's sick or morbid, but see it my way - for the past three and a half years I've been studying to become a Field Epidemiologist, specialising in Infectious Diseases. My skills and training in laboratory work, epidemiology and scientific research will come in handy as I learn what infection prevention and control means in a low-resource setting. I will finally be able to work in my dream field; that no-one deserves to die from preventable diseases. 

However, this internship is a voluntary position. I’m sure you’re wondering why I need to do an internship in the first place. Aren’t two Master’s degrees enough? Whilst I am more than qualified and experienced to obtain a reasonable job here in Australia or in another first-world country, my heart and passion is for low-resource settings - developing nations, refugee camps and disaster zones. No-one deserves to die of easily preventable infections. Unfortunately, I do not have practical experience in this setting, thus the internship.   

I am extremely excited to utilize my skills and knowledge base to benefit others in this way, but there are obviously costs associated with the program. My goal is to raise $25,000 AUD. This money will cover my program fee, living expenses, food, accommodation, travel insurance, visas, language training and for my work in Kakamega. I have already paid for my flights myself, and managed to set aside $10,000 so far by selling many of my possessions and saving diligently, but I still need your help.

If you can donate to my trip, that would be amazing - $50, $100, $200… however much you can. Here’s an example of where your money will go: 

• $50 will cover half of my yellow fever jab 
• $100 will cover two thirds of my Kenyan visa 
• $200 will cover my project seed grant to get my work started

Instructions for donations are available on the "instructions for donations" page at the top of this blog. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, ideas, or if you know someone else who might be interested in supporting this project. 

If you are of the praying kind, your prayers now whilst I am fundraising and planning, and for the year whilst I am away, would be greatly appreciated. 

Cheers, and thank you in advance!

 

it's been a long time

"shouldn't have left you, without a strong beat to step to, step to, step to"....

Whaddup people? I know, it's been ages since I have written here, but never fear, I am here now, so we can dust ourselves off and try again. So what's happened since I last time I wrote?

1. I went to Argentina! With no formal plans, I learnt that I am capable of being flexible, going with the flow and am okay with just taking life slowly and missing out on things. I met amazing people and ate amazing food and fell in love with one of my most favourite cities I've been to so far. One day I want to live in Buenos Aires, it's such a beautiful city. 

at Tres Frontiers

 2. I've moved... Whilst in Argentina I learnt the owners of my house were selling it and we had to move out. This was sad news, as I've never lived anywhere else in Perth, and we had to give ManCat away. But thankfully I had already agreed to house sitting for six weeks in Oct/Nov, and the amazing lady said I could just move in early and stay a bit longer until...

3. I move back to Melbourne in December! Mum and Dad have agreed to take back their boomerang child for a few months whilst I finish writing my articles and any changes in my thesis required after the examiners comments. Why only for a few months?

4. I've been accepted for a year long internship working in Kenya! Yep, from February 2015 I'll be working with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) in Kakamega, Kenya, doing infectious disease epidemiological research. Can you believe it?! I'll actually be doing what I've always dreamed of! 

So there you go, that's all my news so far I think. I will be writing a post about my Argentina trip and another one on what I'll be doing in Kenya soon, because I'll be needing all of your help in order for me to get there! 

But for now I shall leave you with these wise words

"If at first you don't succeed, you can dust yourself of and try again, dust yourself of and try again, try again" Aaliyah, Try Again. 

Thesis countdown is at 44 days (far out brussel sprout).