Thankful Thursday’s

I’ve been wanting to start a weekly post and when I saw the idea for Thankful Thursday’s, it just seemed like the right fit!  Living in Africa makes you realize how much you take for granted living in the United States. We are lucky to have endless resources, options, second opinions, and opportunities.  Things are much more limited here and the resources and opportunities are few.  Seeing the huge gap really changes you and makes you grateful for all the little luxuries of life that we, as Americans, often take for granted.

I thought doing a weekly post about what I am thankful for will help me keep things in perspective and open my eyes to blessings I may not have noticed before!

I feel like I could list the obvious ones like having access to good, quality healthcare (especially cancer treatments), always having hot water and electricity, having endless choices of food and restaurants, or not having to battle mosquitos and bugs all the time…. blah, blah, blah… but those would be boring and cliche.  Haha!  Of course, I am beyond thankful for those things and we do tend to take them for granted, but I promise I will be more creative and write about things specific to my week and my experiences!

This Thursday I am most thankful for this beautiful lady’s visit……

Tara is a physician assistant, professor, Ph.D student and a board member with FCCT…yeah, she’s a busy lady! She has done tons of research on cervical and breast cancer and has started cervical cancer screening programs in Tanzania. I met her last year at the FCCT gala, but had the pleasure of getting to know her better this last week during her visit to Moshi.

I am thankful for her for a few reasons.  One, it was so nice having some good girl time!  Haha!  It was great being able to talk work, relationships, and just life in Tanzania over a glass of wine at Mimosa’s (a popular Moshi restaurant).  I didn’t realize how much I missed that and how much I needed it!

Second, she’s a very inspiring person with all the work and research she has done with cancer in developing countries, specifically cervical cancer and breast cancer.  It was so interesting hearing about her experiences and her findings.  It opened my eyes to the endless potential of the cancer center and the opportunity we, and I have to really make a difference and contribute to improving the outcomes of our patients.  After having FCCT here and meeting with others who have developed programs or apps that are improving oncology care, I can’t help but feel inspired!! There is so much potential for growth here at the cancer center and I feel so fortunate to be a part of something that I know will be a success!  There are a lot of ideas being discussed regarding research and program development, and I’m excited to contribute what I can and see how all of the ideas continue to develop!

So, thank you Tara for your contributions to FCCT, the Cancer Care Center and all the women of Tanzania!!  Selfishly, thank you for hanging out with me this week and having some much needed girl time and for inspiring me to seek new opportunities during my time here at the Cancer Center.

What are you thankful for this week?

xo, Liz