Hi Everyone-
Alright, I know we have all been laggin behind writing blogs so I am going to attempt to jumpstart our blog spot with updating y'all with my "exciting" life here in Seattle.
I am sure some of you may have watched the most recent american idol auditions that took place here in Seattle this past week and I can promise you that I have never seen anybody like those shown on the audition. So this means that all y'all better not be intimated by the freaks from the audition and come and visit me here in seattle:) Especially those in NY and San Francisco that I visited last year!
I am sure like all of you, I have found it quite easy to get into the daily routine of life here in America and believe that "nothing really exciting" has happened enough to merit writing about......I guess compared to the stories and adventures of our Malawi experiences.
Lately i have been just going to school, working, and doing lots of salsa dancing. Yup, Jessie and I are regularly taking classes and feel that I am getting somewhat ok at it:) For work, I have been working with multiple tribes in developing Cancer Awareness programs which is fun because I get to work with my own people and other natives from around the region. There are so many similarities when working with Africans or American Indians -- like African Time, there is Indian time:)
One of the more exciting things that have happened is that i have been asked to sit on the Instutional Review Board (IRB) for the Lummi Northwest Indian Tribal College. What is the IRB? well it is board which reviews and approves ALL research that is done on human subjects, in this case an Lummi tribal member. The purpose is to protect the individuals and tribal community from harms that could come from researchers.
An recent example of how things could go wrong is a couple of years ago researchers asked for blood samples from the Pima tribe in Arizona to look for any genetics defects related to diabetes. Pima indians and many other tribes have above average rates of diabetes. Pima agreed to submit blood samples ONLY on the condition that the blood samples were only used for diabetes research. Well long story short, some other researchers did MORE genetic test and determined that the tribes came from Asia which were published. Well this went against what was agreed between the tribes and researchers as they were only supposed to look at genetics related to diabetes. The Pima tribe eventually sued and won a lawsuit against the researchers. While this is a rare case, most of the time it is the tribes who get screwed over by scientest who only worry about getting there data published regardless of what the community harm it may cause or what the community thinks. My job as a board member is to make sure that things like this dont happen and protect the lummi community. Pretty cool, huh?
Other than the new position as an IRB member for my tribe, I have begun to study for the MCAT's which I will be taking April 7th. Then after that I will begin the long application process of applying to med schools around the country. For those of you interested, I will be applying to schools in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Washington DC, Miami, Minneapolis, and many others. So if you are in one of those cities don't be suprised if I come knocking on your door in fall of 2008:)
After the MCAT's I plan on using my Electrical Engineering degree to get a job and work getting a real salary until I start the med school classes in the the fall of 2008.
Well I guess I better quit slacking and get back to work. I wish y'all a happy new years! Hope life is taking all of you in exciting directions and please post what you have been up to:)
Yendani Bwino,
Dakotah
