As we prepare to leave for Kenya in a few weeks not many people have asked about our efforts to prepare for a new culture, or our attempts to develop skills as teachers, or our spiritual development (though a few have); they all want to know – “did you get your shots?” Some insightful folks will ask about malaria medication, maybe even water purification. Well, friends, here is a little glimpse of the details that go in to moving overseas …
Story #1:
In April, Lesley looks into getting shots. The public travel clinic is recommended, but there is a shortage of the Yellow Fever vaccine which they will have to special order, so they get on a waiting list. Chris is lucky enough to get the one dose they can offer us. So, Lesley unfortunately had to look for another venue for herself.
Finding a local nursing clinic, she schedules her appointment, gets her 6 shots (OUCH!), and gets a prescription for malaria medication. The nurse prescribes 400 malaria pills for Lesley, more than enough for a year. Since the pharmacy will have to special order them, she puts in the prescription for Chris, too, making it a total of 800 pills.
After a few days Lesley calls the pharmacy to make sure the enormous prescription was filled. It was, so Lesley asks the price.
“25 … 27 … 54” the pharmacy tech says.
“Wait,” says Lesley, “how many digits did you just say?”
“Two thousand five hundred twenty seven dollars and fifty four cents,” he says. “Per person.”
Lesley promptly has a heart attack.
Fortunately, they could return almost all of it, and we get one month supplies each with the help of insurance.
After phone calls to fellow travelers and med-student best friends, Lesley and Chris decide to find a generic anti-malarial, and Lesley tries to call the travel clinic that initially gave the prescription. Only she finds that two weeks prior, the department was closed and the clinic is now operating out of a hospital in another city. And that the prescribing nurse is out for the rest of the summer.
Lesley and Chris are currently pursuing the generic option that will cost $4/month (and wondering why the travel nurse didn’t explain this when she prescribed it!).
Story #2:
Lesley books their flights with a travel agent who gets them a good deal on British Airways that includes 3 pieces of luggage each. Lesley notices that the travel agent’s price for the in-country Kenya flight is higher than she can get on her own, so she says that she will take care of it. As she goes to book the Kenya flight, Lesley realizes that the airline only allows 1 piece of luggage, and charges 100 euro ($139) for each extra bag. Considering that the ticket only cost $115, Lesley is currently considering either packing really light, finding land transportation, or simply buying a seat on the plane for her luggage.
Neither of these stories is all that tragic, nor impossible to solve. Just funny how complicated (and time-consuming) things get when they could have been so simple.
In case you were wondering, other things on the to-do list include:
* Get passports - DONE
* Buy flights - DONE (except for luggage issue)
* Medical - shots, malaria pills, etc. - DONE (except Chris's second HepB shot & a plan for the rest of the malaria pills)
* Sell (almost) everything we own - DONE (except for the stuff still left)
* Get financial stuff in order, like paying off student loans - DONE (except for stocks ... let's not talk about those)
* Make sure we have appropriate clothes - DONE (except for shoes)
* Send fundraising letters - DONE (but could use a little following up)
* Get travel medical insurance
* Make sure we are set for visas
* Buy some supplies, like lots of sunblock
* Learn Swahili
* Prepare teaching material
* … and lots and lots of little things, like meet with bank, change address, get international driver’s license, borrow big Army luggage bags, return library books, say goodbyes …
Not an exhaustive list, but surely an exhausting one. Turns out the only thing that is actually done is getting our passports. Hmm.
So yes, friends, we got our shots, and then some.
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