I am returning to Iquitos, Peru on March 2, 2013 to work with an indigenous people group in matters of health promotion and needs assessment. It will be unlike anything I've ever done and yet hopefully the beginning of what I'd like to do more of: serving as a consultant, a listener, an adviser, and an empower-er of others.
For some who are coming to this blog for the first time, you may wonder about the title: There and back again. It has several meanings/origins.
One - it is unashamedly and humbly borrowed from JRR Tolkein in the Fellowship of the Ring, which holds beautiful images of our journey toward Distant Shores and the struggle between dark and light along the way.
Two - I started the blog when I was traveling to 3 different countries in 2006, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru, and the name seemed so apt, since I was spending a month in each country and would return after those travels to begin my residency. I have used it since for various other trips (Bolivia, Niger) and happenings.
Three - now I very literally am going back to one of the spots I was before (Iquitos) ... again!
I had no idea at the time, in March 2006 that I would return in this context in March 2013, as an assistant professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Core Faculty in the Global Health Department at the University of Minnesota and recently awarded a Certificate of Knowledge in Tropical Medicine... all of which have only come about within the last year and by the generous, wise, kind and providential designs of the Wonderful One.
So I will be posting as possible during the next few weeks regarding my trip, the team, lessons learned, thoughts and musings.
Thank you for reading - it's nice to be 'back again'.
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| Iquitos Peru at the headwaters of the Amazon River |
