Before Your Trip

Key items to consider before your trip –

There is, admittedly, a lot of content on this page – but we deem it all richly valuable. Read as far as you wish – and maybe even read it in a few sittings if necessary. We think it will help you as you prepare for your project!

Passport

• Allow for processing time.
• Check with your post office or passport agency for instructions on applying for a passport.
• Make photocopies of your passport’s picture page: tuck one copy inside your luggage and leave one with your family (along with a copy of your travel itinerary). A belt-bag or fanny-pack keeps important documents more secure as you travel.

Learn and Enrich

You may wish to deepen your MMI experience by getting a good guidebook, travel DVDs, and travel books from your local library in order to learn more about your destination. Many project participants tag onto the front or back side of their projects a bit of visit-the-area time; you can determine if that is something you’d want to pursue.

What Shall I Bring?

Spare eyeglasses, a hat, routine prescriptions, mosquito repellent, an extra towel, sheets, sun block, hand sanitizers, and a swimsuit are worthy to include as you pack.

Dark, easily washable clothing is best. Travel in comfortable shoes. Toiletries will be expensive locally, if they are even available. Zip-lock bags keep things from leaking onto each other.

Surgery and clinic supplies, equipment, and non-expired medicines are carried by participants to specific projects – or shipped (at the donor’s tax-deductible expense) to our warehouses.

The pharmacy will need dispensing envelopes, clean medicine containers, small plastic bags, rubber bands, marking pens, labels, and lunch-size paper bags.

And one more thing worthy to bring: we warmly encourage you to bring a heart both soft and opened widely to God to see, benefit, and grow from the special things He may do on your project. His blessings in your life may include episodes of care for patients, new friendships you’ll develop, existing friendships He might grow, personal spiritual enrichment, and things beyond anything we could ever ask or imagine!! Get ready for a terrific time – a time of growing with people and for growing with the Lord.

What Should I NOT bring?

Flashy jewelry.
Perfumed toiletries (they attract insects).

How about My Luggage?

Plan to pack in one suitcase and use the second bag or Rubbermaid trunk (with a lock) for supplies. Leave the trunk behind, if possible, for storage after the project. Your carry-on bag should include essentials in case your luggage does not arrive with you.

Small Gift Thoughts

You may want to give a gift to your translator, the OR nurse, or the bus driver. Small gifts such as toothpaste, pens, key chains, stickers, crayons, small shampoos, and baseball caps are also appreciated. But you do not ever need to feel compelled to give anything; the listed items exist merely as suggestions in the event you do wish to do so.

Clothes, sheets, shoes, and left over toiletries can be donated through local churches at the end of the trip, leaving suitcase space for any souvenirs you may discover along your journey. Your MMI Project Director welcomes extra batteries or other hard-to-get items.

Remember: medicines and necessities take priority over toys when packing.

Medicines Needed on Most Projects

Below is a list of basic medications that are needed on most projects. Avoid samples of unusual, sophisticated drugs.

• Vitamins & iron (tabs & liquid) – adult, pediatric, prenatal
• Analgesics – ASA, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, NSAIDS, muscle relaxants
• Antacids & antiflatulants – Mylanta, Mylanta II, Maalox, Maalox Plus, Digel, Zantac, Pepcid
• Antibiotics (tabs & liquids) – Penicillin, Ampicillin, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, TMX/sulfa, Cipro, Metronidazole, Mebendazole, all antibiotic ointments
• Antifungals – Loprox, Lotrimin, Nystatin, Monistat 3, Tinactin, Nizoral, etc.
• Antinausea – Dramamine, Meclizine, Gravol
• Antispasmodics – Donnatal, etc. (especially elixirs)
• Asthma – any asthma preparations
• Cardiovascular – Hydroclorothiazide, Aldomet, ACE inhibitors
• Colds & coughs (tabs & elixirs) – Dimetapp, Robitussin, Nyquil, etc.
• Diarrhea – Lomotil, Imodium, Peptobismol, Kaopectate
• Ears – antibiotics, analgesics, wax softeners
• Gynecology – Monostat, Flagyl, vaginal ointments
• Laxatives – stool softeners, ointments & hemorrhoid suppositories, fiber supplements
• Skin – Topical creams & ointments (antibiotic, antifungal, steroids), also Kwell
• Urinary – Bactrim, Septra, Macrodantin

Surgical Supplies

We rely on members of each arriving team, typically, to provide surgical items such as caps, boots, scrubs, masks, gowns and sterile gloves, drapes, sponges, prep sets, disposables, and tape. Please check with your project’s Medical Director to learn which items would be most helpful on your project.

We can re-sterilize suture packets and procedure trays. We always need manually operated lab equipment & lab supplies.

Staying Healthy: Quick Tips

The food and water we provide will be clean and safe. Wash your hands with soap often. Carry an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with you.

Review your immunizations and check with your physician about what is needed where you will be serving. The Hepatitis B vaccine, for example, has to be given over several months. Avoid having injections the day before carrying suitcases through the airport.

Enlist Your Community

Seasoned MMIers routinely collect toothbrushes, over-the-counter pain meds, adult and children’s vitamins, ointments, and more through churches or clubs. If you make arrangements ahead of time, the airline may allow you to bring one non-motorized, collapsible wheelchair in addition to your routine luggage allowance.

If you would like to prepare Health Education cards (English or Spanish) in advance of your project, we can send you our masters and gain your help in producing copies for clinic distribution on the field. These can be pasted on the backs of greeting card pictures, which the patients like to hang on the wall. We can use them in any quantity.

Sewing clubs like to prepare colorful eyeglass cases or cloth bags (lunch sack size) for dispensing prescriptions. Send excesses to the MMI warehouse.

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