Wow! I haven’t posted to this blog in over two months. I figure this is as good a time as any.
It’s 8:37 PM in my hotel room. I have packed my bags because I leave the hotel at 5:00 AM tomorrow for the airport. I’m flying next to Lagos, Nigeria on the 7:30 AM Kenya Airways flight. Then I have to be picked up by the FHI driver at the international airport in Lagos and driven to the domestic airport so I can fly to Abuja on Virgin Nigeria. I’ll spend a week in rural northern Nigeria.
So far I’ve done three countries in 14 days! Nigeria is the fourth and last. I’ll be well experienced now in all the issues and priorities in community-based access to injectable contraceptive programs after having worked with partners in all four countries.
How do I feel right now after 2 straight weeks of travel in Africa?
- Greasy and bloated from eating all the oily African food and drinking sugary African beverages.
- Homesick. Needs hugs from Clinton, hugs from the dogs, tons of spinach and my huge soft bed.
- Sort of strung out. Haven’t been able to exercise too much (which also contributes to #1, above) and have to take weird malaria prevention meds which cause nightmares, loss of spatial orientation, skin pigment problems, hairloss and amplification of (my already inherent) anxiety.
- Sort of overwhelmed. My brain is totally full of valuable information I’ve gathered from my work experiences. And yes, I have about 10 reports I have to write when I get back to debrief everyone. Can’t seem to catch up with my work enough to get those started yet…
Other than that, I feel great! And there’s just one more week to go.
Wish me luck tomorrow. If I’m able to Tweet/update my Facebook again after tonight, you’ll know I made it alive and (hopefully) unharmed to Abuja, which will be a HUGE accomplishment.
