MyE28.com

Right about now, my daughter Emily should be boarding a plane that will finally be bringing her back home!

A year or so ago achieved a couple of significant milestones; her application to medical school was accepted, then she graduated from college. Soon after graduation she and a friend hopped in her Honda, drove to Pennsylvania, and from there she headed off to The Gambia (west Africa). All we've seen of her since that day last May is what her computer webcam could occasionally provide via Skype. She wanted to take a year in between college & med school to get some real-world experience, and she'll be coming back with loads of it.

Her first stop after leaving The Gambia is a stopover somewhere in Europe, then New York, then to Pennsylvania where she'll spend a few days at the home base of the outfit she's working with. Next Friday she hops on another plane for the final leg of her journey, and home. We can't wait! Just thought I'd share.

http://emily.daveandyvonne.com/

edit: Click here to jump to the April, 2015 update.

Very cool.......what an experiance she has had.

What an experience! Glad to hear she'll be back soon!

Awesome Dave!!!

Sweet deal!

That's awesome! Glad to hear she had fun doing her thing. It looks like an incredible experience. Also glad she came home OK, I've heard it can get a bit dangerous over there, even for the doctors.

I always wished I'd done something like that. Very cool!

That's really terrific. A perspective she will carry her whole life. Also congrats on the med school admission. I remember well when my daughter (now a neo-natal specialist) was accepted. Huge. Now you all have miles to go before you sleep (and get those loans paid off!)

Mr.ProjectCar535 wrote:That's awesome! Glad to hear she had fun doing her thing. It looks like an incredible experience. Also glad she came home OK, I've heard it can get a bit dangerous over there, even for the doctors.

The safety thing was a big concern for us. Gambia is a pretty stable spot compared to many African nations, but things can get really dicey really fast over there. In fact, after Emily told us where she would be going, we learned from a friend that she had done a similar stint, working in a clinic in Gambia back in the early '80's, but had to cut her time there short because of a coup. She got out of the country safely, but it was a scary time.

We're also pretty thankful that Emily has been healthy her whole time there. My wife & I spent three weeks in Cameroon in 2004, and I ended up sick after drinking some bad water. I got on some antibiotics pretty quickly, but others that were there with us were down for a week and sick enough to need IV fluids. But after nine months, Emily hasn't had so much as an upset tummy or a sniffle. (we'll see how she fares after spending the next day or so in international airports though. Yikes.)

Not trying to hijack the Glee but I am wondering how one finances such an endevour?

davintosh wrote:

Mr.ProjectCar535 wrote:That's awesome! Glad to hear she had fun doing her thing. It looks like an incredible experience. Also glad she came home OK, I've heard it can get a bit dangerous over there, even for the doctors.

The safety thing was a big concern for us. Gambia is a pretty stable spot compared to many African nations, but things can get really dicey really fast over there. In fact, after Emily told us where she would be going, we learned from a friend that she had done a similar stint, working in a clinic in Gambia back in the early '80's, but had to cut her time there short because of a coup. She got out of the country safely, but it was a scary time.

We're also pretty thankful that Emily has been healthy her whole time there. My wife & I spent three weeks in Cameroon in 2004, and I ended up sick after drinking some bad water. I got on some antibiotics pretty quickly, but others that were there with us were down for a week and sick enough to need IV fluids. But after nine months, Emily hasn't had so much as an upset tummy or a sniffle. (we'll see how she fares after spending the next day or so in international airports though. Yikes.)

That's really lucky of her. My girlfriends cousin and her husband are doing the same thing, Except I think they went to South Africa. And like you said, just a little bad water took a bunch of them down for awhile too. She must have one hell of an immune system

I wouldn't mind doing the doctor thing, I think it would be really fun. And from the looks of the link you posted, really rewarding too. Helping all of those kids must feel really nice. You've got a great daughter, willing to go out there and help like that, very noble of her. You must be extremely proud, I know I would be.

EDIT:

oldskool wrote:
Not trying to hijack the Glee but I am wondering how one finances such an endevour?

I think the program pays for it, Doctors Without Borders pays for most of it I believe. Funded in part by donations and the government if I'm not mistaken. I'm not 100% though, maybe davintosh can shed some light on that.

Dave, you should be very proud of your little girl! This is the kind of thing that builds great people. When she gets home give her a big hug for me and tell her "Well done." She has already done more than most people in this country do in their entire lives!

oldskool wrote:
Not trying to hijack the Glee but I am wondering how one finances such an endevour?

At it's core, the nine months was a short-term Christian mission experience; her goal is to be a missionary doctor long-term, and this was kind of a toe-in-the-water for her. Most of it was financed through generous family & friends and church acquaintances; she did some very low-key fundraising, basically telling people what she was doing, and they would ask how they could help. She had saved up some money from her hospital job, and we kicked in the last bit. But all in all it was really pretty affordable. Between airfare, room & board, insurance and other incidentals, it was about $10k for the nine months. Of course, for her long-term goal, the big hurdle will be figuring out how to pay for college & med school, but she tends to focus on the goal and not the obstacles, as she should.

The organization she's working with -- WEC International -- has a pretty well established med school gap year program, and had the costs nailed down ahead of time, which made the planning a lot easier. And it was pretty amazing how thorough the program was, right down to emergency plans in case something bad happens. When my wife suddenly ended up in the hospital while Emily was gone, within a few hours WEC had things lined up to get Emily on her way home. I'm really glad we didn't have to pull the trigger on that, but it was good demonstration of how tight a ship they run. And it's really cool to see just how broad their program is; there were people from all over the world working at the clinic with Emily. Other than another girl who worked with another organization, she was the only American there for the entire nine months.

Congratulations and well done. You must be a proud papa -- and you and your wife must be terrific parents. It is hard to raise kids well, but to raise one to the point where he or she could be a doctor and is centered enough to want to help people? Hat tip to you sir.

Three for Emily...this picture is awesome. Congrats to you and your wife for being good parents.

There is a rally themed sorta like the 24 hrs of lemons. The Plymouth to Dakar rally. The beaters are donated to Drs without Borders. in the Gambia. Congrats to your daughter. Grudgingly, I admit that there is hope for the younger generation.

She's back! Finally! She spent the last few days in PA debriefing & reorienting herself to life in the US, and we picked her up in Omaha this afternoon. Kinda nice that she spent the last few days in PA; she's pretty much over the jet lag, and is perky enough to spend time hanging out with us and some close friends. Life is good!



That's one dancing banana to represent all six of us doing the Happy Dance at my house tonight!

Thanks, guys, for all the kind words. We are quite proud of her; wore a shirt with heavy-duty buttons today!

We're having an open house for her tomorrow evening; all y'all are more than welcome to stop by!

That's awesome Dave. I had several friends drop everything and get aboard a missionary boat to tour the world performing medical procedures. To say it was life-changing for them is an understatement.

You should be very proud.

twin55 wrote:Three for Emily...this picture is awesome. Congrats to you and your wife for being good parents.

Yup; that's definitely one of my favorites too!



Yes, my Emily is pretty easy on the eyes. But don't any of you young whippersnappers get any ideas though; you'll have to get my approval first, and ain't nobody good enough for her.

Application process like RTT?

davintosh wrote: But don't any of you young whippersnappers get any ideas though; you'll have to get my approval first, and ain't nobody good enough for her.

WE ARE NOT WORTHY!!!

Mr.ProjectCar535 wrote:

davintosh wrote: But don't any of you young whippersnappers get any ideas though; you'll have to get my approval first, and ain't nobody good enough for her.

WE ARE NOT WORTHY!!!

I didn't want to say anything, but... Yeah, you're not.

Wait until you have kids of your own; you'll understand.

Congratulations!

Very cool.

My son Parker went off to the Peace Corps in November of 2009 for a 27 month stint. That was a difficult send off. I can only imagine what it was like for you with a daughter.

Parker in the mountains of Lesotho, Africa somewhere (living at 7K feet) with no power, heat (they get snow), cooling, cell service, etc. Truly an awesome life changing experience at that age. The pictures he sends us are amazing.

Enjoy your reunion with your daughter. I'm looking forward to mine with my son next January!

27 months? I think my daughter could've done that, but my wife would've required a trip over there to check up on her! That sounds like an awesome experience for your son; is he able to get to civilized areas at all to put photos/stories online, or is he sending photos via snail-mail? Letters from my daughter usually took a month or more.

If I remember my geography correctly, Lesotho is encompassed by South Africa, correct? And almost all mountains?

Ask your daughter if she met Cheryl P. in Gambia. She's a very good friend of mine who is in the middle of a year's stay down there...

27 months? I think my daughter could've done that, but my wife would've required a trip over there to check up on her! That sounds like an awesome experience for your son; is he able to get to civilized areas at all to put photos/stories online, or is he sending photos via snail-mail? Letters from my daughter usually took a month or more.

If I remember my geography correctly, Lesotho is encompassed by South Africa, correct? And almost all mountains?

Correct on Lesotho location. Its a landlocked country within South Africa. As mentioned, he's at 7k feet so he does have actual seasons including Winter which is approaching.

He gets to "town" every month or so when we'll get a phone call and/or email. He send pics home via USB sticks.

Lack of proper protein is a problem. He's lost 30 lbs.

He loves it though I think getting re-acclimated and back into "real life" when he comes home is going to be very difficult.

All in all, a great experience.

Kenny Blankenship wrote:Ask your daughter if she met Cheryl P. in Gambia. She's a very good friend of mine who is in the middle of a year's stay down there...

She does! The two of them spent a bit of time together in Chamen. You should've seen her reaction when I brought that up; priceless!

It's been just over 4 years since this thread saw the light of day, and I thought it appropriate to pop it to the top again today because Emily is at it again. She left yesterday for a two-week jaunt to Mali, and arrived safely in Bamako, Mali today. She's staying at a guest house overnight, and will be taken to the village of Adamabougou in the morning.

In those four years (man, that went fast!) she completed her medical training, and will be graduating from the USD Sanford School of Medicine next month, and will be starting an OB/GYN residency in Omaha, NE, this summer. The primary goal of her trip to Mali is to help the clinic there develop better protocols for dealing with difficult birthing situations, but she also brought some much needed equipment and supplies; 3 suitcases loaded to the gills and each of them just under the airline's 50 lb limit. She and my wife did a little fundraising work in order to send 10 new doppler fetal heartbeat monitors; all they currently have for that task is stethoscopes. The two of them were also able to scrounge up a large amount of other "expired" OB-related gear and medications that the hospitals here would otherwise discard.

When she told us of her plans to go to Mali, we checked around and learned that there have been some safety concerns in that country, mostly in the north, and weren't terribly excited about her going. Her trip isn't technically part of her education either because Mali isn't on the med school's list of "safe" countries where they would allow students to travel. I'm not exactly sure how she got hooked up with this trip, but the people on the ground there assured her that the area is safe, and that they have good extraction plans in place in case trouble materializes. It sounds like she's in good hands, and we can't stifle her adventurousness and desire to help out in remote parts of the world, nor would we try to hold her back. What more can we do than trust that God will protect her?

The outfit she's working with this month did a nice writeup on her trip: http://www.globalpartnersinhope.com/med ... d-to-mali/


That's one of her pics from Gambia; one of my favorites. And no, the baby's mom didn't let her bring him home.

Yeah, a dad just has to brag on his kids once in a while.