Category: Travel
-
Vicissitudes of fortune
Morning all! Hope y’all are well and enjoying life. As I’ve been writing tonight and thinking a lot – facilitated by Marcus Aurelius – I’m getting motivation for some decent blogs. A couple points from Emperor Aurelius: “Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.”…
-
How to learn English
Good morning folks, I’ve got an interesting topic for you today. A break from the harsh cruel reality of coping with death and suffering in the African bush. It’s all based on a 19-year-old kid, named Kapindah. As I biked in to my clinic a few days ago calling out greetings and being waylaid by…
-
The seasons are a-changing
These times, they are a changin’. Guess that’s fair enough. The winds have come, strong powerful gales blowing dust, seeds, spores, and memories away on grand adventures. They bring riders – cool nights, dew-covered grass, and crisp morning air. A cold splash of icy water across your face where just last week the same had…
-
Malaria
Morning folks – I’ve been writing a couple more introspective blogs lately so I thought I’d get back to the meat and bone of volunteer work – projects! I’m narrowing in on today’s project because of its importance and because I’m celebrating the completion of the first of six bi-annual observation visits & the enrollment…
-
Keeping on balance
Aurelius: Book Seven – Entry 61 “Living is more like wrestling than dancing; you have to stay on guard; ready and unruffled, while blows are being rained down on you, sometimes from unexpected quarters.” No kidding! What an amazing sentiment – especially poignant for a PCV! We are more or less isolated, surrounded on all…
-
Working the nights away
So, you might not know this about me, but I’m safely indoors, windows closed, netting drawn tight, candles blazing as soon as those last tender rays of sunshine vanish from the horizon. It’s a defense mechanism bred of the misery of being outside without repellant and long sleeves/pants. Also…it’s my quiet time. Time set aside…
-
A collapsed latrine
What a surprise…a rumble…a crack…cement splitting, the floor turning on angle, walls sliding out, brick mortar raining down, a flood of light and a quick exchange of fouled air for fresh. At least that’s how I imagine it. While in Mansa, on business my pit latrine collapsed into it’s, well, it’s pit, haha. It seems…
-
Rainy days, sweet freedom
I am a volunteer. A man, free. I choose to give of myself, its a price I pay willingly in exchange for complete freedom of my soul. I can never forget it, it permeates every ounce of my being. Freedom isn’t free, its a choice, and each choice has a cost. But sacrifices make what…
-
Living life without a reflection
I was riding in a bus today, seated just there in the corner seat. The smell of field, sweat, fertilizer, growth and rural life thick on me. I fit in, yet stood apart, an unusual mixture of smells, musk and scent. I took a deep breath…there was lime, mango, chickens and goats, dark rich earth,…