October 1990, sitting in the IU House in Eldoret, trying to write a letter.

It was the original IU House, up the hill, past Testimony.  On a balcony overlooking guava and avocado trees, a small orange grove, a few goldfish swimming in a manmade pond…and in the distance, far beyond the weaver's nests, the president's mansion-when he visits.

The inaugural class of Moi medical students matriculated that month. 21 years ago, maybe not such a long time ago. My first born daughter, she's nearly 21. Maybe a long time for her.  Simplicity of sorts at the IU House then: no phone, no computer, no VCR or CD player. Walked a couple of miles into town each week to call Indiana…put the shillings in the slots in phone on the wall of the post office…perhaps Mamlin or Kelley would pick up on the other end.

No school, really, just a collection of buildings hijacked from another training institute. Just 40 Kenyan students, a handful of faculty members, all seated in 12 chairs. No curriculum, no labs, no PowerPoint, not a single case of HIV…even though the twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings were just beginning to drop like flies.

Brown, a color; Duke, just royalty; Utah, a fine place to ski; and Toronto a fine Canadian city; AMPATH yet to be dreamed. Research, that is what we did, and teach, and care for patients. Really rudimentary research: mental illness, stress, behaviors are the primary burden of disease. Perhaps times have changed…perhaps not.

So, 2011, they asked me to write this blog for the launch of the web page.

Paper, I need some paper…