30 July 2020

The airport closed, and one of our doctors couldn't come back at the end of her vacation.

"That's ok," we reasoned, "It has to open eventually, and she'll make it back. At least it has to open by the time our annual leaves are scheduled." The airport remained closed for 4.5 months. Annual leaves cancelled.

Finally they announced an airport opening date, planned for August 1! Visitors can start coming again soon! Our new ultrasound can finally come! A real day off might be possible?? Annual leave and meeting my new niece?!

In case we were starting to feel too connected to the world, one evening the internet stopped working. Changing the SIM card didn't help. No one in the country outside of the capital had internet anymore. The day after the only other remaining missionary doctor at our hospital left on a repatriation flight, the country decided that internet access was an unnecessary hazard for most of its inhabitants. Never mind blocking social media like last time. Now they've blocked all internet. No email, nothing that requires cellular data.

Now we really feel stranded on a landlocked island, cut off from the outside world. It's ok, though, we're not going too crazy yet. I'll let you know when I start cutting myself to draw faces on the soccer balls (I DO have a Wilson brand soccer ball. It's perfect!). Or actually I won't. Because there's no internet to upload blog posts. I'll just talk to Wilson about it.