Well, I fell off the bandwagon as the trip was wrapping up. This always seems to happen, and I apologize. I am back in Massachusetts, having returned Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, I tested positive for Covid 2 days later. I am feeling better after a rough first few days. If you have upcoming air travel and … More Day 6 2024
The head of IOWD, Barbara Margolies, brought hundreds of flip flops for patients, and it was my job to distribute them. I have been giving them out on postoperative rounds, when we see all the patients who had surgery. However, I forgot to bring them one day and now I have no idea who needs … More Day 5 2024
Every fistula mission comes with sad stories. Many of the women we see lost their baby in the process of giving birth. Yesterday we saw a 20yo woman who had been pregnant with her first child. She went to her local hospital and they found that her fetus had died. They induced labor but could … More Day 4 2024
Writing this late as we had a super long day yesterday. I think we left the hospital at around 7 PM. We left late because one of the surgeries went longer than expected. I think the same thing happened tonight, but I left early because I was exhausted. Similar to last year, the number of … More Day 3 2024
Hello friends! It’s been another lovely day here—sunny, 80 degrees—just the reprieve I needed from snowy Worcester. The operating rooms had a bumpy start today—the air conditioning and suction didn’t work, we couldn’t find consent forms for the patients to sign, we didn’t know which room to use for pre-operative patients. As I said yesterday, … More Day 2 2024
We arrived safely last night after two long flights. I can usually sleep a bit on the plane, but for some reason I struggled this time. I am hoping to catch up a bit on sleep tonight, though the first few nights are always tough due to jet lag (we are 7 hours ahead of … More Day 1 2024
Hard to believe that I leave tomorrow for Kigali. I’ve spent the last few weeks getting everything together, so I feel mostly prepared. I have tried to pare down the amount of stuff I bring, but that’s tough—there’s so many, “what if” scenarios in my head. Do I bring my electric toothbrush or just use … More Tomorrow is the day
It’s hard to believe that my trip to Rwanda is in about one month! I’m sooo close to my fundraising goal of $1000–only $175 to go. This money helps to fund my travel and lodging, and is a huge help in making this trip possible. The total cost of the trip for me is around … More Restoring Dignity
Hello everyone! It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by and my January medical mission is just a few months away. This has been a whirlwind year for me as I sold my home of 20 years and moved to Worcester. I had grand plans to make a bunch of shopping bags with … More Headed back in 2024
There are a lot of things to worry about on a medical mission. Will we have all the equipment we need? Will there be enough time? The thing I’ve never worried about is whether there will be enough patients. Unfortunately this year, there are not enough patients and we are left with time on our … More Day 2: Waiting
Leah's Rwanda 