Can You Believe It?

Can you believe it?! McCay and I are on our way for another lengthy trip abroad. We will travel for 5-weeks to Paris, France/London, England/Nairobi, Kenya/Pader, Uganda! I can hardly believe it myself.

The first part of the trip started as a simple getaway to Paris for fun with friends and family. Then, an amazing opportunity for me to work with a colleague at DePaul on an effort at a primary care clinic in northern Uganda arose. Well, that left about 10 days in between our time in France and the time in Uganda and we had to decide whether to return to the States and go back abroad or just stay on the other side of the world...we decided to stay! So, London and Nairobi got added to our itinerary. What a blessing to have such choices available! 

Per usual, I will try my best to update the blog with pictures and stories of our travel experiences!

First Stop - Lubango

Angola is a HUGE country located in southern Africa; almost 3 times the size of Texas by some estimates. The country was colonized and occupied by Portugal for 500 years and won independence in 1975. The official language is Portuguese but there are also several national languages such as Umbundu. 

Angola on the map of the African continent. 

Map of the Provinces (like our states) and their capital cities. We visited Huíla Province, Namibe Province, and Benguela Province. 

Our 6-person delegation split into three pairs and my husband and I were sent to three of the 18 provinces. Provinces in Angola are like our states in the US and each have their own provincial capital. After an hour flight from Luanda to Lubango, we checked into the Hotel Lubango in the capital city of Lubango, in Huíla Province. Our role and responsibility during this entire trip was to represent our individual churches from the Illinois conference of United Church of Christ as we visit our sister churches of IECA in Angola. We spent our days, from very early in the morning to late into the evening, visiting churches, schools, and a few healthcare facilities. 

This is the church sign outside of the church we visited in Lubango. 

Here is Rev. McCay meeting with the church pastors and deacons after worship service. They also prepared a wonderful after-worship meal. This was a common occurrence: Reverend McCay speaking with the pastors after worship service after he preached, followed by enjoying a meal lovingly prepared by the church members.

At church this day, we met a dedicated physician named Dr. Stephen Collins who is now an Angolan citizen but was originally from Canada. He and a physician named Dr. Steven Foster lead a small but mighty private hospital in Huíla Province. Dr. Collins kindly took us on a tour of the private hospital facility. There is no national health insurance coverage but the government does sponsor healthcare and hospitals. Unfortunately, because of the economic downturn, many of the government sponsored hospitals are poorly staffed and are providing sub-optimal care.

Emergency room entrance to the private hospital. 

One of the patient areas including a bed, equipment, and a patient room curtain. Isn't the patient room curtain pretty?! 

One can pass between hospital buildings via covered walkways. 

Patient bed palettes stacked in the hall where patients can use them if the rooms are overcrowded. 

Hospital equipment sterilizing machine. 

I was excited to visit the Maternity Ward but there were no women on site so the ward was closed and locked; unfortunately, the keys were with another staff person. 

Instead of the Hollywood sign, there is the Lubango sign! Visiting the sign overlooking the massive city of Lubango was part of a short departure from our work for a little tourism. 

Did we stop in Brazil on our trip?! Of course not. This is Cristo Rei (Christ the Redeemer) in Lubango. There are only two other massive statues of Cristo Rei in the world - in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Lisbon, Portugal. Given the history of colonization this comes as little surprise. 

Another view of Cristo Rei in Lubango, Huíla Province, Angola.

Cristo Rei (Lubango, Huíla Province, Angola)

A late night dinner of chicken, fries, rice, and a side salad in the Hotel Lubango closed out the night. 

We're Not Finished Flying Yet

After an 8.5 hour flight from Amsterdam to the Luanda, the capital of Angola we moved directly to our next day room at the Chik Chik Hotel. One of the church members in Angola owns the chain of Chik Chik Hotels and was kind enough to donate several hotel rooms for our delegation. The hotel was quite large and had a pool, basketball court, and restaurant. So, we had time for a meal and a shower before our next hour-long flight from Luanda to Lubango. 

A Layover in Amsterdam

Who knew that an airline strike could turn into a fun day trip! We were originally scheduled to fly on Air France from Chicago to Paris (8+ hours with a 5.5 hour layover in Paris), then Paris to Amsterdam (1 hour flight and then a 3.5 hour layover in Amsterdam), and finally Amsterdam to Luanda, Angola (an 8.5 hour flight). A few days before our departure, Air France went on strike so we had to rebook on KLM...which turned out to be a better experience!  

My husband, McCay, and I at O'Hare ready for our next world travel adventure. 

The food in KLM economy/coach was "ok" but it made me miss the yummy food we had in Business Class last year. It was a simple dinner of beef, yellow rice, green beans, a bread roll, salad, a spice cake for dessert, and a salad. Breakfast was very Dutch in that it was simply yogurt, orange juice and/or coffee, and a small granola bar. 

So, we flew from Chicago directly to Amsterdam where we had a 14 hour layover. Now, one could sit around Amsterdam's Schipol Airport and waste the day away in the many shops and restaurants in the airport. But a planner like me books a day room in Amsterdam so we could take a shower, grab a meal, and take a nap after exploring the city a bit. We checked into the really gorgeous Hilton Schipol airport to get settled in our day room. 

After a brief nap, we took the train into city center and walked around. The first thing I noticed was the high number of smokers outside. I also noticed a small structure with SMOKE written on its side for the smokers to use as shelter. The weather temps were mild upper 60s/low 70s so a lot of people did not use the smoking shelter. 

We walked down the street a few blocks (way past the obligatory McDonald's and KFC) to find a good place for lunch. We found a quaint brasserie and I ordered my standard fair of roasted chicken and fries (I am not an adventurous eater, especially when I, traveling). 

Our time (a short 14 hours) in Amsterdam was well spent and I have no regrets in getting the day hotel room...we returned to the remaining flight to Angola refreshed, well fed, and rested. 

On the Road Again...to Angola!

Who knew another opportunity for public health work on the African continent would come up so soon after our trip to Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire last fall?!  I certainly didn't expect it but I am so excited! 

I will be joining a small delegation from the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ to conduct a public health needs assessment for the communities served by a sister church, Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola. The two-week long trip will cover several provinces in Angola and will utilize the skills of a diverse delegation.  The delegation includes a public health practitioner (me!), two ministers (one being my husband), a retired pharmacist, a history and anthropology professor, and a high school teacher. 

Interestingly, Angola requires that you "present" yourself in person to apply for a travel visa. That means that we had to travel to Washington DC for what equated to about 10 minutes worth of paperwork and 30 seconds of fingerprinting. In any case, we enjoyed our short stay in DC and had the chance to catch up with family and friends. 

Here is our delegation outside of the Embassy of Angola in Washington, DC after applying for our travel visas.

As the only public professional on the trip, my primary goal is to put into practice components of the three core functions of public health. 

To my students: Name the three core functions of public health...I'm going to assume you were shouting *Assessment, Policy Development, and Assurance* Now, how do you think operationalizing the three core functions changes when you're working outside of the U.S.? We'll talk about this in class.

Thanks for joining me on my continued international public health adventures!

Last Stop: London

The last stop on our world tour is London for a few days. We stopped in London overnight on the way to Ghana but now we have a chance to spend a few days exploring the city. We were staying in a very touristy part of London purposely. I knew that this stay would be at the end of our monthlong trip and I anticipated us being tired and weary and no longer interested/willing in traveling very far for food, shopping, and sights. Most of the museums in London are free and we were a block away from Harrod's department store and the Natural History Museum.  

Nighttime view of Harrod's. 

Window display of Christian Louboutin shoes (VERY expensive shoes with the iconic painted red bottoms).

Animated window displays at Harrod's 

I do love a good deal and was in need of a nice pair of casual shoes so when I saw these shoes "on sale" at Harrod's I was excited until I saw how expensive the shoes were even when they were on sale! The shoes are sale priced at £869 (down from £1450) which is about a sale price of $1289 (down from $2151). Yikes!

The Natural History Museum with outdoor carousel.

Sculpture made of tin cups, pots, and pans outside of the Natural History Museum.

The Natural History Museum with outdoor ice skating rink.

We enjoyed the requisite fish and chips for dinner. 

Every part of the trip has a public health component so when we traveled to London I had to visit the Broad Street pump made famous by Dr. John Snow.  This symbol of public health history is one of the most basic discussion points for every public health course. The original pump itself is believed long gone but a replacement was erected at the corner of Broad Street (now called Broadwick Street) and Lexington Street. Across from it is also a pub named John Snow Pub. The replacement pump itself was removed in January 2015 for construction of a new condo building so all I can share is pictures of the pub. There is a campaign to return the pump when the construction ends so I'm hopeful that on my next trip the pump will be back in its rightful place. 

Street sign at the famous corner of Broad Street and Lexington (Broad Street is now called Broadwick Street)

Depiction of Dr. John Snow above the John Snow Pub. 

Outside of the John Snow Pub.

 Street view outside of the John Snow Pub.

Another view of the John Snow Pub.

We visited the NTCG Brixton Community Church on Sunday and enjoyed worshipping with our Christian brothers and sisters in London. 

Storefronts below flats (apartments) in London. Like New York, garbage bags are placed on the street sidewalks for collection. 

Gorgeous home in London.

Typical row home on a London street.

More flats in London. 

Restaraunt called the Mango Room in London.

Enjoying a Caribbean meal of pork chops and basmati rice at the Mango Room. 

Dessert of banana flambé and sticky toffee pudding.

Riding back to our hotel on a city red double decker bus. The underground tube was easy to use to get around the city but the bus allows you to "see" the city as you travel from place to place. 

On our way back to Chicago we were given a complimentary upgrade to business class!! It made our 8 hour 55 minute flight home from London a breeze! We were given the business class welcome kit which allows you to freshen up before departing the plane after a long trip (lotions, toothbrush/toothpaste, lip balm, socks, and a blanket).

Dinner of beef, risotto, and broccoli. It was surprisingly tasty. We were also given real silverware and glassware. 

Dessert of coffee and cake after dinner. We were full but who can resist dessert?!

High tea toward the end of the flight which consisted of tea/coffee, a mini pastrami sandwich, mini egg salad sandwich, a mini prawn salad sandwich (which I couldn't eat because of my shellfish allergy), scones with clotted cream and jam, and small cakes (a petit four, a gingerbread, and chocolate cake). Yum!! we were having so much fun in just business class, we couldn't imagine what was happening in the magical world of first class!

Arriving back at O'Hare! We are finally home to celebrate Christmas with our family. 

It has been an amazing month long trip that we have absolutely no regrets about! I hope that you have enjoyed following us along our travels and I look forward to discussing with you more specifics in person or in class. Thank you for joining us!