Reports from the Penn State Trip

Rachel Zimmerman was one of the students participating on the recent medical trip to the Kazungula area. Thought I'd share with you a glimpse of her experience in rural Zambia:

.

"We spent three days in the Kazungula area and saw about 100 or more patients a day. It impressed me how much patience the Zambian people had. They waited for many hours in line and walked such long distances to be seen by the doctor. Even more impressive to me was the dedication of Dr. Steve Rudman who was accompanying our group from Virginia. Often he stayed at a clinic until the last patient was seen. We were able to test many people for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria."

.

Medicine by Candlelight

Do you have your passport???

.

Already have a passport?
If you're thinking of going on an upcoming trip, it would be a good idea to make sure your passport is in working order. A few tips:

1. Check the expiration date. Passports are generally good for 10 yrs. How old is your picture???

2. Also, many countries frown upon passports that expire within 6 months of your travel date...thinking you'll jump ship and stay a little longer than they want you to, I guess. So, double check to make sure your passport still has more than 6 months to expiration.

3. Have you changed your name? Again, another reason for an update!

4. How many pages do you have left in your passport? The rule of thumb is make sure you have at least 2-4 blank pages, depending on your travel route, so they can mark their territory.
____________________________________________

Don't have a passport yet???
Even if you're only comtemplating serving with Shomeka in the upcoming months, now is the time to make work of getting a passport. The average processing time for an application right now is 4 weeks. The cost is around $100, plus the price of the 2 passport-sized pictures required (usually done at your local post office or some place like Walgreens).

The links below are very comprehensive. The USPS site even has a passport office locator you can use to find the one nearest you!

• http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
  
• http://www.usps.com/passport/

*FYI: The new passport cards are only for travel use between the US, Canada, and Mexico--not for use with air travel!

.