The Fellowship that wasn’t

By Ron Turley KF11.5

I see that Kiva has begun to recognise those of us who are/have been fellows. On our lenders page, we have a distinctive Kiva “K” on our pictures, links to Kiva Fellow blogs we have posted and the name of the country and MFI with which we worked.

This is very embarrassing for me as I feel I did not earn any of it.

Three days after arriving in Kigali, I developed a medical condition that required me to be repatriated. I was there long enough to find accommodation, acquire a cell phone and Internet access and to meet some of the people at the MFI. That was it. I spent 11 days on the ground, almost all of it more or less incapacitated.

I have been home for just shy of three weeks, have been seen by western physicians and am feeling much better. Tomorrow is the day I should have my medical clearance, but trying to re-connect with Kiva will be very difficult, not the least of the challenges would be convincing my wife it would be OK to return to Africa.

To say it was a huge disappointment would be an understatement. It was an experience I will always remember. I met some terrific people, particularly the couple I stayed with who took care of me, drove me to the hospital and ensured that I was getting the best treatment available. But it was not what I was hoping for. The hardest part is reading about the other fellows’ experiences and being reminded of what I have missed out on.

Anyway, I am sure no one follows the blogs closely enough to be saying, “Hey, what ever happened to that Ron Turley guy who posted a blog or two and then fell off the face of the earth”, but I thought it would be appropriate to tie things up just in case.

Best of good fortune (and health!) to the other fellows.