May Already!

I can't believe it's already the month of May. I am officially on the countdown!

So much has happened in the past week. I finished classes for my first year of grad school. My comprehensive exams are tomorrow and I feel prepared yet a bit anxious. For the MCH Department, the comprehensive exams, or Comps as we call them, are oral. We are given five questions and when we go in to the panel, we can choose to answer one question and then they will select one of the remaining questions. The mini "presentations" are followed with Q&A with the panel. Daunting, yes but in preparing for this final step in my first year of grad school, I have discovered that indeed I have learned a lot about domestic and global MCH in the past year! Everyone who knows me is aware I like to talk so it shouldn't be a problem to chat about issues I am passionate about, right?!

In addition to school wrapping up this past week, work has been very busy! Our annual field leaders meeting was in Chapel Hill last week and colleagues from most of our field offices were in town. I love this event because it gives me an opportunity to catch up with my colleagues and friends in Rwanda, Namibia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya! An economist said this week that the United States is out of the recession and I feel this is because our field leaders were here shopping at SouthPoint mall and stimulating our economy!

It was such a thrill to see Pam and Kimani from the Kenya office. They delivered very good news that I would be able to charge my time to the project and receive funding. It feels like a ton of bricks have been lifted off my shoulders. Things are really falling into place just like everyone predicted.

Perhaps even better news, my scope of work for Kenya has been finalize and I am in love with the opportunities that await me in Nairobi. I will be working so hard but the objectives and technical activities on my plate will really give me an ideal technical field experience. I feel so blessed. Now, I just have to work hard to prove to the world that I possess these skills and can effectively carry forward my scope of work. Look at world!