I have been to Africa three times and I am preparing for my fourth trip, leaving in eight days for Ethiopia and Sudan. Just a couple of things that need to fall into place - the return of my passport with the entry visa for Sudan and an appointment with the local travel clinic to update my file and get my anti-malaria and diarrhoea medications.
As long as the mosquitoes aren’t too much of a nuisance at night, I rely on the malaria pills and mosquito repellents. It’s next to impossible for me to sleep under a mosquito net – suffocating! I suspect that it is uncomfortable for even the locals when the air is heavy and the temperature is around 40˚C. As an added precaution to keep the mosquitoes at bay I’ll be treating my clothes with permethrin, something I learned from the Canadian military. It works well.
I can count on getting the “blizzard shits” at least once a tour. Before my first trip, I didn’t know what to expect so I took along adult diapers. The pills worked quickly, didn’t need the diapers - thank you very much!
Ouvry Roberts, a friend and co-worker, went with me on that first sojourn into the unknown. We were heading to western Ethiopia where malaria severely impacts on the health and economy of communities and conditions are not especially accommodating to outsiders. You don’t see tourists. Ouvry was experienced in travelling to such places and used to “roughing” it. For me, this first African experience was an affront both physically and mentally, having to adjust to the weather, culture, food, living conditions, language, etc. Ouvry and the friends we made and with whom I continue to work helped the whole experience be acceptable. After three trips, you might say that I’m acclimatized and the experience is more than acceptable. It also helps to keep focused on the goal –
To establish Centres of Excellence in each country where malaria is endemic to train local people to implement their own operational programs that will eradicate malaria at the community level resulting in malaria free zones.
The objectives of this tour include registering my company in both Sudan and Ethiopia, to document the journey and activities for the blog and to further fine tune the strategies for malaria control for selected communities in both countries. I will be accompanied by Kevin Taylor, also a friend and co-worker, and a cinematographer, Simon Hughes, my son Morgan’s brother in law.
Before I get too far along in the blog, I want to express my appreciation to my wife (Diny) and my sons (Adam and Morgan) for supporting me and to the people in Pestalto who keep our Ontario West Nile virus contracts on track. It’s easier to accommodate my social entrepreneurial nature with the knowledge that family and work are running smoothly.
I also want to acknowledge the contribution of Deng Tap, a kind and thoughtful fellow and who like so many of the Ethiopian community abroad, support the improvement of conditions in their home land.
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I had the priviledge of attending Deng Tap’s (far left) homecoming put on by the women in his extended family in Gambella 2010. His trials and tribulations along his life’s journey are not uncommon among the Diaspora now living in North America. |
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