Saturday, September 1, 2012 I am at JFK Airport waiting for Jonathan Laryea to arrive, and then we will leave on our flight to Monrovia via Accra. I'm happy to report that there were no issues with my Liberian visa this time ! Check-in was relatively smooth, though I did have to pay to check an extra bag; I was turned down when I asked for a waiver on humanitarian grounds. Oh well. Accompanying me on this trip will be Dr. Jonathan Laryea. Jonathan went through our general surgery residency program, finishing about 6 years ago. His co-Chief Resident was Dr. Amy Rezak, whose wedding I will be attending at the end of the month after I get back. Jonathan did a colorectal fellowship in Atlanta, and is now a colorectal surgeon at the University of Arkansas, which he is also Associate Director of their Surgical Resicdency Program. Jonathan is a native of Ghana, and has been involved with the West African College of Surgeons; he was in Monrovia for their meeting last February. As usual, I am looking forward to this trip for all sorts of reasons. I want to see what progress has been made at JFK in e past 6 months; I'm wondering which of our former patients I will see again; and of course I wonder what surgical challenges we will face. For the first time, I am going without my colleague, friend, and protector Adamah so it will be interesting to see how it all works out. I'll be letting you readers know !!