...

May God be with you, Leauki.

Safe travels.

As well, Leauki.

Now that will be something to blog about!  Be safe.

I am in Juba now with sporadic Internet access (actually it is quite good). I am outside telephone range already.

Tomorrow we are flying to the northwest, to the town of Aweil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aweil

From there we will drive further towards the border. Our target is a much smaller town.

Fighting has broken out northeast of Aweil (I cannot give details) but we are well west of the dangerous zone.

For the next few days I won't have any kind of Internet or telephone access.

I should be back in Nairobi by Monday evening.

 

This will be great ... personal first hand reports, doesn't get any better than that. Wish you luck and good will and congratulations for the courage shown just by going there.

A great education opportunity for all of us.

I am back in Zurich. Will start writing about this in a few days. I have lots of pictures.

I also have interviews with (and pictures of) former slaves and some pictures and reports on medical cases.

Tess, thank you. But it wasn't courage, it was suicidal insanity. I knew what to expect but I never expected to see what I knew. Lots of insects. no toilets but smelly and insect-infested (and lizard-infested) drop holes, heat, heat, heat and, quite logically but still utterly surprising, lots of absolute darkness. There are no lights there. It's near the equator. From 7 to 7 there is just DARKNESS. Try finding (or using!) the drop hole at night. I didn't eat for days.

And there is fear. Fear of the darkness, the animals (mostly insects), the heat, the fact that the heat can get worse, fear of not being able to breath the dusty hot air for enough days, and fear of not finding any water that isn't even hotter than the air. Even "showering" in the early morning was an exercise in avoiding hot water. I don't know how people there can live like that.

We live in paradise.

 

One in the same hahaha. I have watched many movies and clips on this region and I agree, I didn't for the most part consider the natural conditions these pore people seem to take in stride, amazing people. It is so easy to get caught up in the injustice of it all but there is nothing as eye opening as jumping into the frying pan to see for yourself. I would have loved the chance to have gone with you ... so insane or not, I envy you and your adventure into reality ... something most avoid like the plague. I have been to places where I was convinced I could smell the fear all around me and it made the hair on my neck stand up, not a good feeling at all.

I had to see where my money went. They are naming a new building in the (very small) local hospital (with one doctor) after my late father.

 

That's remarkable, Leauki.  And wonderful.