What wonderful memories!

As you can see from the posts and pictures, we have wonderful memories from our visit to South Africa.

My memories include: worrying as to whether everyone would get to Logan Airport in time for the 6:10 AM flight(we did!); doing my "night nurse" routine and checking on members of the group during the flights (they were fine and I got my exercise to prevent DVT's); seeing Costa at the airport to greet us; going to dinner our first evening at Jenny and Costa's home to bid old friends and colleagues Kathy and Dotty farewell; seeing friends and colleagues at Highway Hospice,the Nursing School at UKZN, McCord Hospital, Church of Scotland Hospital where we also visited an orphanage and went on home visits, St. Mary's Hospital, Lamontville Township feeding program, Africa Center, Crompton Hospital,Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, and the Doris Duke Research Center at the Nelson Mandela Medical School(UKZN)and much more.

People always make the difference in every trip. There are so many people who made our trip memorable and we're grateful to all of them. Many have been special friends for a number of years. Although I won't mention names I will make one exception with Costa and Jenny who were incredible hosts. They did far more than rent us rooms. Their thoughtfulness made for a wonderful trip for the group.

Culturally, we visited a flea/craft market, saw Durban and environs, had a picnic breakfast at Tala Private Game Reserve, attended the African Footprints production, had a weekend at the beach, saw the uShaka aquarium, St.Lucia Wetlands,and Hluhluwe Game Park among other activities.

A special treat for us was the presence of the President of the MGH Institute of Health Professions for the first few days of our stay. She came to be with us and to express her support of the international activities of the Institute. We were all sorry to see her leave.

We squeezed a lot of activities into a very brief period of time. It was special for me not only because of our South African colleagues, but also because of the composition of our group. They came on this very first educational venture abroad for us as an educational institution when not all of the details had been worked out because they were committed to learning more about international health care. They came and we were all conquered with the commitment to return.

My gratitude to all who helped make this possible- who supported us in large and small ways both in South Africa and in the U.S. Thank you also to those who have decided to support the work of our South African colleagues. Inge