'YOU Must Be The Change You Wish To See In The World'

Ok and more thank-you’s… A big one goes out to the nursing faculty at UBCO. Although we have been working as ‘real nurses’ for the past year, we have still received so much support from the UBCO nursing faculty. Many instructors have donated their time to mentor us, and pull together supplies and curriculum for Lianne and me to take over to Zambia. I feel lucky to have such great role models..and not just teachers, but as great nurses too.

I also want to say a big thank-you to my fellow co-workers on 4 East at Kelowna General Hospital. You guys are an amazing bunch. I feel so fortunate to have been able to work on 4 East floor as a new graduate nurse. You have honestly made it such a great learning experience for me, the whole team is so supportive. But the best part is how much fun we have together…even doing some of the crazy things we do as nurses! I know that sometimes we are all so stressed with working short staffed and at overcapacity all the time..but somehow you do it all. Keep it up! I can’t wait to come back and share my stories.

Yes I know it seems like I am writing a speech to accept an academy award or something since I am saying thank-you to everyone in my life...but I really do mean all these thank-yous.

So here we go just less than a week and a half left before the big departure to Zambia. Am I feeling ready? Not at all! Now that we are all moved out of the apartment..it is time to concentrate on what to pack. How do you pack for a 6 month trip to Africa..I have no clue. But one thing you can be certain of is we have packed lots of medications to treat any condition we could possibly think of getting! (and the thing about Africa is you WILL get something) Once a nurse..always a nurse,…even when you are on your days off I guess.

As Lianne was saying this is such a strange time for both us right now. So much change has happened in the past few weeks, and we are about to hit a whole lotta change. I have been through so many emotions lately. Nervous..then excited..then scared..back on to excited..then ecstatic!! But I won’t lie, because I have definitely had a few ‘What am I doing with my life????’ moments too. All I know is that this is an experience that is going to change my life.

You may have noticed that the title of my blog entry is ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’ Ok I know I copied Lianne with another Gandhi quote, but then again he is one of my heroes… so I am allowed. But the quote has been a favourite of mine for a while now. It is something I chose to live my life by. Which is why I am a nurse today.. and why I need to go back and nurse in Africa. Everyone keeps saying to me ‘that is so wonderful of you to be going over there to help the people of Africa’. And I am grateful for their praise, but I just feel that it isn’t something heroic, it is something that I have to do so that I can make this world a better place.

Jess