Thank you for traveling with me on this important journey...

My name is Lisa Teske. On October 10, I will depart for Cebu City, Philippines on a 10-day medical mission with Rotaplast International. I will represent the Columbia Center Rotary Club and Rotary International District 5080 alongside of a team of 25 people (medical and non-medical volunteers) who work to correct more than 100 cleft palate conditions in local children. My primary function will be to manage the medical records, but I will also spend some of my time communicating the importance of our work and the impact on the lives of our patients.

While participating in this mission, I hope to improve myself through service, particularly in a challenging medical environment where I'm not naturally composed, and to learn more about Filipino culture. Each day is sure to teach me something new!

For more information about Rotaplast, I encourage you to visit their site at http://www.rotaplast.org/. And to learn more about Rotary International, contact me and I'll be happy to share more about this amazing organization.

Proud to be a Rotarian. Proud to serve. -- Lisa

Monday, October 10, 2011

Coffee, please -- make that a double

Jennifer trains me up at Rotaplast
Well, that was a fast morning! After rising at 3 am for an early flight out of Pasco, I spent the morning learning the technical aspects of what I'll be doing on this mission. At the Rotaplast offices in San Francisco, Jennifer (pictured) taught me about the computer file that will be basically running the mission and how to enter the data so people are scheduled, tracked, and served correctly. In addition to a form for everything (they are very thorough which is great), the Excel spreadsheet put all from my MBA program to shame. While it was information overload, I do think I can do this and I thank Jennifer for having everything so organized and pre-thought.

I'm going to add that I did all of that without coffee.

Now I'm sitting in the airport, having had lunch, a shower, and pressed and dressed in my uniform (the whole team is to travel in navy blazer, khaki bottoms and a white shirt so that we look the part of a professional medical team). I'm going to have to get a picture of this before we board our flight because it's probably the only time I'll see everyone dressed like this! Kind of fun, really. The rest of the team should start arriving in the next two hours. Until then, I'll chill. Unfortunately, my 70 lb suitcase and 18 lb carryon are preventing me from going very far from my current (wifi-enabled) location in search of caffeine. If I thought I could get there and back without having it all confiscated and imploded, I would. Alas, I need this 88 pounds of stuff I'm hauling. So I'll have to stay put until I see a friendly uniformed team member to relieve me. Hopefully, I'll be awake.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa,

    you are getting close to your destination. God bless Jennifer. Sounds like she already made your mission a lot easier for you.

    Your right 88 lbs of stuff to haul around is a lot. I thought you were only staying for 3 weeks. Did you decided to relocate? jk

    We are thinking of you. God bless you, take care and talk to you soon.

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  2. I Dora Holcroft just sent you this last comment 10/10/11 at 4:42 pm

    509-947-7330

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  3. Lisa, I am so proud of you.... God Bless You on your journey:-)) Cindy

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  4. I am sending you another message to see if unknown name will change to Dora Holcroft. I'm new to this site.

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  5. Awesome stuff Lisa. I'm proud of you, and wish you safe journeys and a fantastic life altering experience. I look forward to staying in contact - all the best, Darko

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  6. Safe travels, Lisa! This is exciting. 88 pounds??!? That's a lot of stuff!

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