No more Kenya...

Well I guess I have to change the name of my blog from ‘Yoline around the world’ to ‘Yoline around in Europe’. Enjoy my stories for as long as you can, because probably after Sweden I won’t write anything anymore… This morning I heard that my project in Kenya is officially cancelled =(

Last week I received an email from a girl from Amsterdam who was, together with me and a third girl, member of ‘the medical team’ that was going to Kenya. She told me that the third girl had decided to step out of the project and that she was having some doubts herself as well. Doubts about the organization and the supervision they offered us. Not only in Kenya itself, but she thought they were also very vague and not that supportive when she contacted them about specific issues.

Interesting to hear this, especially since it was exactly the same problem I brought up already in the beginning of August. But at that time nobody was listening to me and they were all saying that I was seeing problems that were not there.

Anyway, the next couple of days a lot of emails were sent around. I tried in every possible way to convince here that it was still worth it to continue. But in stead of seeing it as a challenge to make a really good project out of it - even though the organization and their support was crap - she saw it as a risk.

So I had to make a decision. Still going, but then going on my own, or stepping out as well. But then I had to find a new project. In only one month time…

I have decided to do the latter. Not only because I am not feeling that comfortable with going alone, as a blond girl, to Africa, but also because the project is simply too big for me. Of course I can narrow it down but, like one of my supervisors was saying: “the strength of this project was that you were going to approach problems from three different angles, since you were all studying something else. Now that the other two inputs are missing, the project is not strong and convincing enough anymore, especially if you will make it smaller.”

So one month to find a new project… But you know what? I actually got the feeling that it is all going to be ok. I don’t know where exactly I will end up, but I got the feeling it won’t be Leiden. It doesn't feel right to end my studies with an internship ‘just’ in Holland. 2008 was going to be spectacular, and I was planning to finish biomedicine in a unusual way, so I'm not going to allow some stupid organization to let my dream fall apart!