Introduction

Hide and Seek in Sierra Leone

I've decided to keep a blog because people keep asking me what I'm up to.

I'm up to a lot. Since leaving New York in May, I've been to Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa and Malawi. Still to go is at least Mozambique and South Africa (again) and perhaps Zimbabwe and Swaziland depending on how the wind blows.

I've danced at bonfires, ridden on motorcycles, had a few braiis (bbq), taken public buses, eaten bush meat, drank palm wine, interviewed prestigious people, met some wonderful friends, been scared, been drunk, been tired, been elated...

Its been a great trip and if you're interested in hearing more, stick around! This blog will start with the present day but I'll flash back to earlier parts of the trip... maybe even to Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Rwanda, Liberia, Guinea, Costa Rica, Mexico, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Tajikistan, Germany...

Helicopter to Freetown with my
brother

Eventually though this trip will end and I'll return to NYC. But I'll keep writing if there's any interest in reading. So if you read this and enjoy it... let me know by leaving a comment, shooting me an email or telling me somehow. If you read it and don't enjoy it, well that's fine too. Let me know! I'm always looking for feedback on my writing and stimulation for my thoughts.

As I write this, I'm sitting at my desk at the UNICEF office in Malawi. Its my 2nd full day of work and I'm excited. I'll be doing a combination of mundane administrative tasks and thrilling human interest pieces and difficult content creation for the website. I'm excited to get to travel in Malawi and see the work that UNICEF is doing. I'm excited to interview the Country Director of UNICEF here, Mr. Mahimbo Mdoe, and write the story of what drives him.

I'm also excited for non-work stuff (for a change). I'm going to be learning to SCUBA while I'm here, even though that entails risking contracting bilharzia (its treatable but not really preventable). I'm learning to play rugby while I'm here too. Yesterday was my first practice. I escaped relatively unscathed save for one missing toe nail.

So with that, I'm going to get back to the work on the desk in front of me. I have to familiarize myself with UNICEF's work here quickly so that I can get to writing!


In the future my entires will not take the form of journal entries (like this one) but instead of vignettes styled as short stories that offer a description of the action, the context and a snip of what it meant to me. Those of you who know me may have read a piece I wrote about working in the children's hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. That's what I'm aiming for. Those of you who haven't read it, fear not. I'll post it here one week if I have severe writer's block!

My goal is to post something at least once a week while I'm here. Hopefully exciting stuff will happen often enough that I can post something interesting regularly and I promise I won't resort to silly filler pieces.

So thank you for bearing through that long (and rambly) post. I look forward to writing for you again in the future!

Peace out from Vietnam!