Marie Farrow:  

to get in. Finally I checked out A&T and received a full scholarship -- just for showing up. What a deal! I also took a course at the University of the Nations in Kaliua Kona, Hawaii, and later became part of the faculty and College of Counseling and Health Care Leadership team. Most recently I've taken some courses at the Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. I'll probably be enrolled in some sort of course when I'm 90... Workplace Work has been a fun roller-coaster ride with many varied and colorful experiences. I've spent about seven years working as an RN in the US getting experience in a variety of different specialities. In 1985 I returned to the Philippines to do my dream job, working as the missions center nurse and community health educator. Before long I was doing things nurses in the States didn't usually do: diagnosing and prescribing, suturing wounds and doing minor surgeries. I was also the center vet and ran a spaying and neutering clinic, treated a neighbor's pig and helped with the delivery of a few goats. In my spare time I learned how to thatch roofs, plant rice, weave hammocks, ride a motorcycle and learn which creepy crawlies merely "flavor" your whole week's supply of food rations rather than ruining it. Motorcycle skills came in handy when our helicopter was grounded during a tropical storm in the middle of a rain forest. We were going on a medical rescue mission. I was able to hitch-hike into the village via logging truck and care for my patient, but the pilot needed to stay with the helicopter because there were rebels in the area. With weather not letting up, I got on a dilapidated old motorcycle to take food to my pilot, but after about 45 minutes of traveling thru the jungle, the engine died -- along with my adventuresome spirits. I ended up breaking my foot, and was taken in for three days by some of those very rebels before I was able to "sneak away." I also went thru the 1986 revolution and several coups, sat in the home of a prominent witchdoctor, and had TWO horses offered for me as a bride price to become the second wife of a Muslim prince. (We very politely turned him down!) After four years in the Philippines, I returned to NC on furlough and worked awhile longer at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte to refresh my clinical skills and began teaching at Central Piedmont Community College. --But I was really "itching" to get back to the field. I visited another nurse from North Carolina who had been doing primary health care with another mission organization and was recruited to lead a school to train non-medical people for medical missions. It was a "hardship" assignment, I was based in Hawaii leading a three-month intensive course that had a 10-12 week clinical assignment in the developing world. (This was with YWAM's University of the Nations) Again, it was a blast! I was in Albania only 3 days after they officially ended communism and were toppling dictator's statues. I rode an elephant in Thailand, picked leeches off my students up near the Burmese border, and worked with 1600 disenfranchised handicapped orphans. The latter gave me an impromptu audience with a member of the Kings Cabinet, who then opened doors for further ministry in that country. I increased my sprinting speed running from an angry crocodile on the Amazon... There are so many stories. In 1995, I had burned out a bit and attended a retreat with an organization called Healing for the Nations --Then in 1996 began working with them, doing more "counseling-type" work than medical. In 1998 I moved with HFN to Atlanta. Again, there were many incredible experiences. My work with Wycliffe, YWAM, and HFN were not salaried -- I raised my own financial support and ministry expenses. At age 50, I went back to work as an RN to build up my bank account and retirment fund. I did an "RN Re-Entry" course at Kennesaw State University and was hired at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta. After a few months, I started working in a managerial role. In September 2006 I bought a house and moved back to Shelby... I've come full circle now. Currently I'm working in CaroMont Health System at Gaston Memorial.