Greetings friends. In an attempt to stay connected from across the miles I am attempting to maintain this site to post thoughts and pictures from Madagascar. I am currently residing in Ohio, sharing my parents home with them (or I should say, they are sharing their home with me). Barring anything unforeseen, I am to commence a 27 month volunteer assignment with the Peace Corps in Madagascar in September 2005. The scope of the work will be grassroots outreach education in the hopes of promoting and maintaining optimal health of the Malagasy population. Topics will be quite broad and varied including but not limited to reproductive health, family planning, HIV/AIDS/STD’s, water quality issues, perinatal health issues, malaria, tuberculosis, and immunizations. I will be 'placed' near a rural health clinic working with and alongside native physicians and nurses while paying visits to local and neighboring schools and villages to spread sound health promoting messages as widely as possible. I am prohibited from owning/operating a motor vehicle of any kind (to stay true to the idea of living at the same standard as the surrounding community and so as to avoid casting myself as the privileged American) and instead will rely on self-powered transport (foot and/or bicycle) when travelling 'short' distances and public transit to cover 'long' distance. It is highly likely that I will be without electricity and perhaps without running water. These are all challenges that I welcome and embrace, believing whole-heartedly that there is much to be gained by going without.

I have recently completed an accelerated RN program in Ohio while securing my license in Colorado. And yet, I am a nurse much more in theory than in practice thus far. In short, with regards to taking this volunteer assignment with the Peace Corps...it is simply the direction I would like to go both geographically and professionally. I think it will be satisfying and feel meaningful much of the time. I expect to gain more than I give...and I plan to give a helluvalot. And as much as I'll learn about life in another culture, I know I'll learn even more about myself and what I'm capable of. All the same, until I step foot off the plane in-country, any talk of being in Madagascar is just that.

So bear with me...this site will be a work-in-progress and my goal is to make it as free-flowing and user-friendly as possible. I can already recognize that there is alot of (too much?) information jammed into this small space. Organization is not my strong suit. If I can figure out how, it would be much better to include this information within an 'About Me' section...so as to 'force' as little extraneous information on those of you choosing to visit as possible. Would be nice to merely have pics and highlighted snipets of info. contained on the main site with the option to link into the lengthy elaborations that almost always seem to take place when I take to writing. An attempt at going high-tech for someone who considers himself much closer to 'old-school'. I anticipate having infrequent access to the internet once in Madagascar so I fear updates will be few and far between. We shall see.