Donations

So I wanted to let people know from here that my team leader told me this in regards to payment for the trip.
Hey Guys, my team leader Mr. Doug Collier left this comment on my last blog post update 

" Honest blogs are always refreshing to read. Thanks. The website is www.servethechildren.com. Let's have a matching funds contest- I will match the next 4 $25 donations to your trip if they come in before Wednesday"



Do you guys think you can help?!?!?!? PLease?!?!? I can even throw in some money, but I have  already paid for a good portion of it out of pocket. I can't afford anymore or Tyler and I will go without food.. I am really relying on God and everyone support around me.


Thanks.
Keshia


keshiastravels.wordpress.com 

Medical Supplies

So I received an email from the nurse who will be going on the missions trip to Monrovia, Liberia. Her and I will be able to go to the nursing school there, some clinics, and hopefully help out with immunizations for the kids. She gave me a list of things that we would need donated to us to take for the clinic and school to have. Here is the list

blood pressure cuffs including ped and large adult size
stethoscopes
ant fungal cream
anti itch creams
hydrocortisone cream
ferrous sulfate
thermometers
scales
lots of dressing supplies of any kind
dressing tape
scrubs in good condition all sizes and colors
2010 drug books
dressing scissors
wound packing
newer nursing and medical texts (10 years old or less)
ted hose - will take any size but especially need larger sizes
chemcial cold and hot packs
wound disinfectants

I don't see that I have interested readers; but I am really hoping that more people would read and see what we need. I wish this could become a bigger thing and people could see there are things that we need. If you are reading and want to donate any of these things or give money for me to get these things, please let me know. My email address is keshia.witthuhn09@northwestu.edu 

Seriously some of these things are not that expensive! Like scrubs are not too bad, the creams, disenfectants, thermometers, scales, and some others are really not all that expensive. I still need to raise money for myself to go! Please help! 

-K

Support Letter Rough Draft! Comment!!

Dear Friends,  

             I invite you to assist me in my journey to Liberia this summer. As stated in the brochure,  I will be there from June 18^th to July 4^th. The total cost for me to go is only $2700. The plane ticket alone is $2300, gas prices really sky rocketed our ticket price. I am not just attending this trip with seven other people to traipse and gallop all over Monrovia . As a team we will also be bringing books for the children, hopefully nursing books for the nursing school in Monrovia, , mosquito nets, and other miscellaneous items to give to the people who house and take care of us the entire time we are there. The financial support you send will go towards the $2700, my vaccines, and the malaria drugs I will need when I am over there. Any excess will be used to buy donations. I want to take over gloves, stethoscopes, hand sanitizer, hand wipes, and other nursing supplies that the clinics and school in Monrovia are without. I will be working a lot in the clinics, and from what I have heard from past trips the clinics never have enough supplies. Can you also help me in donating to getting the Liberians a better means for sanitary healthcare?

            I not only need assistance financially, I also need it spiritually. In Liberia I will receive great hospitality from people who have much less than I do. This is going to be overwhelming for me. I do not want to take up their resources more than I have to and I would prefer to restore their resources while I am there. These people are going to touch my life the same, if not more, than I will ever hope to touch theirs. I would admonish you to start praying for myself and the seven other team members now and during our trip. Pray for the people of Liberia as well, they are in a country that has war, no civil structure, and are in intense poverty.

            If you want to send financial support the checks can be made out to myself. If you do not  feel comfortable with that, let me know and I will find another way for you to send financial support that is directly to the Serve the Children that can be put on my account. If you want to get boxes of gloves, children’s books, stethoscopes, bottles of hand sanitizer, wipes, or anything else you feel these people could use, please send that as well.   Also, please remember in your daily prayers to pray for myself, the team going, and the Liberians.

                                                                                    Thank you,

                                                                                    

Africa

:) I have been accepted! WOOT! Okay, now comes all the actual work. I have to update my passport, get my visa, get two more shots, see if my health insurance covers me while I am over there, send out support letters, write the support letter first, talk to my Dad's boss and see if he will support me, raise money, make a paypal and facebook group, have a new blog entirely for updates about Africa, get ready to go, take six classes of language and culture training, read two books, and finish a packet for the mission trip.... on top of doing all my nursing stuff! It's going to be busy, but it's going to be good.

Where Tyler has been getting up at 5:30 in the mornings, I have been getting up and just going to the gym and walking for about a half hour or so. It's not a really intense workout, just walking on the treadmill, uphill, at a good speed for about two miles :) Then later Tyler and I go do a real workout. It's been nice, I get up and get things done.

I have a long weekend, I am thankful for them and not at the same time. It is hard to organize your time when your time is just this open.

Alright, I just wanted to update with that. :) I need to get back to doing my homework, I am going to start working on a study guide since my clinical paperwork is FINALLY done :( Have fun guys! I will keep all you up to date!
Keshia

The Ferry

Yesterday, tweaked my neck as Tyler said goodbye at 0630 to head to work... Stupid neck (still hurts today too). Felt better after sleep of course since it wasn't holding my heavy noggin up. I have been seriously doing homework all day. I have finished quite a bit too. I am now going to watch  a movie and do my last biopsych movie guide. I was going to do it on Born On the Fourth of July, but seriously, that movie was horrible! And I couldn't really get the movie guide done. So, I am going to do it on Shine instead. This calls for more pain killers first and foremost..

OK, the ferry. I went to Bremerton yesterday to meet with Chad about the mission trip to Sierra Leone. To be honest, it sounds promising. I have a lot more work to do, on top of being in the nursing program, but I have faith I will be able to get it all done.

 Man, I have done a ton of homework today!
I have also realized, that nursing school makes one much fatter than they would like. And having a gym that is only open at certain times during t he day is HIGHLY annoying! Because I would like to go now... but I can't. I can go at 5 when I would rather be making dinner! Oh well. We need to do laundry really bad, like blankets, towels, and clothes. I am in dire need of a pillow case washing... I think my face is breaking out a little bit because I have not changed my pillow cases in over a week. :( I change them once a week because of face ick.

Ok, going to go make good food to eat for lunch/snack for gym. AND take more pain killers.

Just a quick post

So, today is my first psych exam and my first day in the psychiatric hospital. Pretty stoked for both actually. I hope we shadow today so I can get the lay of the land.

Also, I have an interview tomorrow with Chad from NewLife for the missions trip. I am really excited. Tyler starts his work at 7 am, and I have my catheter check out at 12, then I have to get to the ferry to hop on and then meet with Chad at the Starbucks in the terminal. :) Super stoked, it's been a while since I have been on the ferry, and I have never been on one by myself!! Hahahaha, man, too excited for just a ferry ride I tell ya.
Ok
I am going to go study before my test :)
<3

Too long since a post

Aight, it's been much too long for me to have not posted. ... sigh. Oh well, let me catch you up... not that you need to be caught up on too much. Clinicals have been going fine. I have had two really great patients the last two week :) Both very pleasant and kind.

I have found a missions trip to go to Africa this summer for two months. It would be at Sierra Leone, I think in Freetown?? But basically it is through Children of the Nations. They are working with a church in the area and are sending a group of people on this trip. I have to take some classes but basically I have to learn the foriegn language there, Krio. I'm super excited to learn the language, raise the money, and be in Africa for two months. It is a little pricey, but seriously, what missions trips aren't anymore. It is going to cost Tyler and I $8100, we are seriously hoping for a lot of support. All of my babysitting money will be going to the trip and I will be writing up and sending out support letters here in the next couple weeks. I still have to apply for the trip, which I will be doing today since they just sent me the application :) It is a one page application with basically essay questions. This should be fun.

Tyler's job hunt has not been going so well. :( He applied for one job 3Form, had two amazing interviews, then they did not call him back. ... It was a very depressing day, but we just keep moving forward which sucks when we were really excited about that job. He went and interviewed for another job today, which seems to be ran by a tightwad who did not want to pay Tyler the entrance level salary for an engineer with his degree. Well, that is fine by me, I suppose. That means Tyler's last resort, Home Depot, is where he will be working for a while til we can find something more appropriate for his level of skill. It's upsetting but hopefully somewhere there is something for him that is not Home Depot, but we need to pay the bills...

With all this happening with Tyler's work, I am afraid I may not get to go to Africa this summer. But I believe that God can work in wonderous ways.... or I just won't go aye?

I'm tired, I skipped chapel, I think it is time for me to go read my homework and finish up today's assignments. I have a lot to get done today.... and I have a lot of praying to do... more like, I will be fussing at God a bit because I have no idea what he is doing with our lives right now and frankly I am not fond of what is going on in it. I feel that Tyler deserves a better job. So whats with this NOT FINDING A JOB! What's with this, danging Africa right in my face and then making me feel like it will just get ripped away  like so many times before! I am done with this life where I can't do what I would love to do... What I would love to do is go to Africa, deal with malaria and other sickiness, and help out people who would love it. I want to play with the kids there, the adults, I want to hear their stories. I want to go. I don't want to live a fantastical life, I'm not asking to be a famous missionary or super hero!! I JUST WANT TO GO! I want that more than I want children.

You guys enjoy your day. I start at the psychiatric facility this week on Wednesday, so I hope I can have some stories to tell that are not too in depth... since I don't want to break HIPPA.

<3