The arrival

I am now in Africa, having arrived in Burundi yesterday three hours behind schedule. More about that later. We could not go to Kigutu (the site of the clinic) yesterday, because it was too late when I arrived. One does not travel on the open road here at night. Very dangerous. So I am staying here in Bujumbara until tomorrow. I met some of my new colleagues last night, for they have come into Buj. (the name everyone gives for Bujumbara) for the weekend. Below you see Brad (on the left, whom my daughter describes as freaking hilarious: she skyped with him) and Elvis (on the right). Brad is a volunteer nurse, and has been here four months. He will stay for a year. I agree with my daughter: he is freaking hilarious, and supremely dedicated to his job. Elvis is a translator, and speaks multiple languages. Elvis seems to be friends with the entire population of Bujumbura.

Everyone from the clinic is very nice, and clearly very dedicated to their respective jobs. More about each of them with time. I have learned far more about the workings of the clinic over these past two days. I know that the average daily clinic patient population is right now about 100/day. I will be seeing patients in the clinic Monday through Friday. Plus I will be doing daily in-patient rounds on the patients in the hospital, and most of the children on the in-patient ward have been admitted for malnutrition. The average age of the malnourished children is three years old, and I have been told I will be seeing malnutrition patients on a virtually daily basis. It is difficult for us, if not impossible to grasp that concept, yet, for those who work in the clinic, it becomes a routine occurrence. Malnutrition and malaria: the two "M's," and two of the major diseases I will see, starting on Monday.

Back to the trip: the overnight flight from London to Entebbe was uneventful, and I actually slept for a few hours, thanks to the seat that became a bed in my business class section. The Ugandan airport in no way resembles what we know to be airports. The Kenya Airways desk is exactly that: a metal desk, where you check in. The flight was listed on the departure board as leaving at 10:30, but, actually left at 10 A.M. Thankfully, I checked my ticket, so I did not miss the flight.

I have not been to all the airports in the world, not even a small percentage. However, I cannot believe that any airport can surpass, or even match the Nairobi airport for its inefficiency. Take my flight for example. We sat on the tarmac for three hours, with the back door of the plane open (I assume, in order to let all the hot, humid air into the airplane from outside). Why did we sit on the tarmac? Because they could not close the cargo door. So they sent someone to the hangar to get a new part for the door. He returned an hour later, unfortunately with the wrong part. The final solution was to remove all the cargo, as well as the luggage from that part of the plane. They then put the luggage back on the other side of the plane, and ultimately closed the cargo door. And now you know why my plane was three hours late arriving in Buj. Who am I complain though? I made it to my final destination after a two and a half day trip that included five flights and five airports. Not only did I make it, but all my luggage did too.

So I ended up spending two nights in Buj. And far more about that second night in my next blog entry. But, before I leave you with this one, I want to show you the view from inside my bed during my two nights in Bujumbara:

What you're seeing, of course, is what it's like to sleep under mosquito netting. I personally don't like it. I don't have claustrophobia, and yet, that mosquito netting over my body made me feel claustrophobic. Luckily, in Kigutu, where I go tomorrow, no mosquito netting needed because we'll be at altitude. As an aside, it is not as if those nasty female anopheles mosquitos bite you only at night when you're laying in your bed. I don't know that any or all of them were female Anopheles mosquitos, but I had my share of mosquito bites of some variety over the last two days in Buj. And I doubt I'll be wearing mosquito netting around all day.