Kampala 9/23/10
I was all packed and ready to go to Sri Lanka when they asked me to go to Sudan instead. That’s when my day of nausea began. I was enjoying my briefings in New York until that moment. When you work with Médecins Sans Frontières, you learn to be flexible right away.
The last few weeks of my life have been very unusual. That’s what happens when you quit your job and tell everyone you know that you plan on traveling abroad indefinitely. It’s exciting and lonely at the same time.
I arrived in Kampala, Uganda last night. I contacted my driver with my IPhone which I might add works everywhere in the entire world except New York City. My driver took me to the MSF office and guesthouse where I will stay until my Sudanese visa is ready. All the expats here speak French. It’s just as well; I need to practice my French anyway.
I woke up first to roosters, then barking dogs, followed by the most unusual singing by men. “This is Africa” is my favorite quote often said to me by many who think I have no clue what it means to live here. They are right. It is another world than where I grew up.
I never shared a blog before. I decided to this time. I’m doing it to stay close with my family and friends but also to fulfill my mandate of témoignage, or bearing witness to those suffering.