To Another Land

Katya said, “Being here is like being in Biblical times and modern times at the same time. Like all times are happening at once, and people are just walking back and forth between them.”

~~Mary Gaitskill from ‘Don’t Cry’

It is still ten days until I head again to the equator, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made this first adventure of 2013 possible. And to let everyone know that I hope to resurrect this blog again (if I can get an internet connection.) Every single time I board a plane headed for East Africa, I fear it will be my last. But, somehow, I have been blessed with the opportunity to return again and again. Thank you, to everyone—not the least of which is my dear husband.

This time, I am headed to Ethiopia and, wow! Talk about a loaded destination. The four ‘foreign’ places that had the biggest impact on my coming-of-age years were Viet Nam (watching war scenes unfold on the 6 p.m. news which—disturbingly—we are no longer ‘allowed’ to do,)  the 1976 raid on Entebbe Airport in Uganda, Tehran during what has become known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis (which spanned my entire freshman year of college and beyond,) and the 1983-1985 Ethiopian famine (so many images beamed into my living room of emaciated children half-heartedly fanning flies from their eyes.)

It feels like an immense privilege to visit the ancient nation of Ethiopia, and I am humbled (and excited!) by the opportunity. This time, I will be traveling on behalf of SCOPE (Strengthening Care Opportunities through Partnership in Ethiopia.) SCOPE is a unique partnership between the University of Washington Department of Global Health, University Presbyterian Church (in Seattle,) Gondar University (in Gondar, Ethiopia,) and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, focused on combining the power of medicine and public health education with the reach and influence of the church, in order to positively impact testing, diagnosis, treatment and life quality of those living with HIV/AIDS in northern Ethiopia.

Whew! That was a mouthful.

Addis Ababa is my first destination on January 31 (via Amsterdam and Khartoum, Sudan.) Then I’ll fly north to Gondar where the work begins. Stay tuned here for all the details—or, at least SOME of the details J

There will, of course, also be a little bit of recreation involved. Did you know that the highest mountain in Ethiopia—Ras Dashen—is 72 feet short of 15,000 feet? Hmm . . .

Looking forward to posting here, and to hearing from you all.