Little Known Facts: Internet Nightmare

OK, I had forgotten how slow it really used to be when I had my first 400 baud dial up modems and couldn't wait for the 1200 baud models to come out. I feel like I am back in those days again.

I moved down to Butare the day before yesterday, on Friday with half my gear, and the other half came down yesterday afternoon, so I have spent the days getting oriented and settled in. I did tour the hospital and made rounds with my roommate, Sagar, an Internist from Harvard. He found a really nice 3 bedroom house with nice kitchen and very nice gardens. (I have been looking at pictures from the webcams up on Teton Pass and wondering why Lisa isn't here yet but she gets to go to Guatemala again for her clinics in Feb.)

I won't try to post any pictures at this point as the internet is so slow. Getting email takes so long that I forget what I am doing, go do something else and come back again, then forget where I was. My iPad works better than my computer with it's USB stick modem so that is what I mostly work on. Supposedly, there is high speed wifi internet up at the medical school but I will have to wait until tomorrow to check that out.

I will try to post this and see how it works and see if I can't d more later.
Love to all at home,

Jim Little

Little Know Facts: Contact Info

So far I have been getting oriented to life in Kigali and getting ready to go to work.
Things, in general, move at a different pace here, about a walking around pace, except the traffic, which while not as heavy as it was in Hanoi has a speed and quality to it with all the cars, buses and motos. We have been advised not to take the motos which are everywhere and much cheaper than the buses and taxis. One of the staff here was recently involved in a moto-moto crash and 3 out of 4 people were killed, with the staff member being the only one to survive.

I have been visiting the 3 hospitals in Kigali where HRH physicians are working. Everybody is extremely welcoming and looking for help. The patients are extremely complex and resources for diagnosis and treatment are quite limited. Ask Lisa for examples of the kinds of problems I have seen in the past couple of days.

So there are no street addresses in Kigali, everything is located close to something else or some land mark, like the wedding traffic circle, or the Embassy or the hospital.

If you want to mail something to me, send it to:
Dr. Jim Little
c/o CHAI (Clinton Health Access Initiative)- CHUB (Butare)
PO Box 402
Kigali, Rwanda

The best thing to do if you want to send something is to use DHL Express and send to Kigali. They will get it to me in Butare.

My Rwandan cell phone number is: +250 (0) 787 611 808
I have a US Google Voice number which is: 307-200-9733
but I haven't figured out how to get it so that is forwards to my Rwandan cell number, it is supposed to  be able to do that. I will work on it.

I have been taking pictures and will try to post some more soon.

Dr. Cliff O'Callahan with baby on the ward

waiting, waiting

I'm not sure what he was listening to but he was swinging

Sunrise from the hotel on election day

Jim

Little Known Facts: Packed and Ready Go

Halloween evening came and went. The trick or treaters were home in bed and I finished packing and am ready to go.

After months of planning, frustration and anxiety, I got on the flight from JAC to SLC with a lot of help from my hero, Joe Larrow. Hw got my vote for School Board.

I felt like Santa Claus getting to the airport with 11 bags, most of which were overweight and I worried about the springs on Lisa's Element.

Packed and Ready to Load
(Thanks to Sean and John Batenhorst for saving my back)

Counting the bags

My Hero, Joe Larrow
(Getting there early and having Joe's help made it smooth)

 Now in SEA watching the weather and waiting for my long flight which I have to go catch now.
Thanks to all my friends who have given me so much encouragement.

Ben Graham Article in Today's JH News and Guide

Ben Graham did a very nice article on my plans to go to Rwanda in today's Jackson Hole News and Guide:

Getting ready to Head Out

Well, Nov. 1st is getting closer and closer and I am getting more and more organized. Hard to believe that everything is falling into place.

I have had a lot of people asking me about what I am actually going to do.
Here is the website for the HRH Rwanda program for the Rwandan Ministry of Health:

http://hrhconsortium.moh.gov.rw/

Here is the Dartmouth URL:

http://www.dartmouthrwandahrhprogram.com/

Here is the website for the Clinton Health Access Initiative  HRH Rwanda program that covers a lot of the information for participants:

http://rwandahrhprogram.wikispaces.com/Clinton+Health+Access+Initiative+(CHAI)

I hope that these help answer some of your questions.
Have fun reading and I look forward to having people come visit.

Best,
Jim

Ok, so here is a story.
I was riding my bike up the Old Pass Road with my friend Chuck Resor, when we came across this guy towing this big tire up and down the pass........

So it turns out that he is Aaron Linsdau, and he has been training with plans to leave in a week or so for Antarctica to do an unsupported ski trip to the South Pole and back. 85 days pulling a 350 pound sled with all his gear, etc.

It also turns out that he was one of my patients when he was a baby, 38 years ago.

Amazing what these kids turn out to do when they grow up.

Check out his website.

More playing with the blog

Spent the day packing stuff and getting ready to travel.
Still trying to run this blog.
Nov. 1st in getting closer.
Skype works now on my iPad.

Photo by my great friend, Bill Thompson, from somewhere in Vietnam or Cambodia

test the blog

Hello there blogger
Hope you are having a great afternoon

Jim

Start up blog posts

Well....

Rwanda here I come.
I now have a contract with Dartmouth and an airline ticket to go.

I will be a "Visiting Associate Professor" of Pediatrics for the Dartmouth Geisel Medical School for the HRH Rwanda program.

I will be located in Butare, Rwanda from Nov. 1st through July 31st, 2013.

Photos and posts will follow,
Best wishes to everybody and to me.

Jim