http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Madrasi-Libby/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Madrasi Libby en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 19:30:47 +0000 Wed, 22 May 2013 19:30:47 +0000 libbyabbott.wordpress.com http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-758297.html I have a new blog site very kindly set up by my fabulous sister. I39m not exactly impressing anyone with the rate of my posting but you can see the first one herea general description of the life I have settled into in Kampala. More soonlibbyabbott.wordpress.com http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-742746.html Not bad when your new job flies you down to Cape Town for training. I may have frozen my butt off but I may also have fallen in lovemountains to climb penguins to laugh at. Definitely a place I will be returning to. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-731849.html We came. We sailed. We ate cheese. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/blog-725196.html Many years ago when Hena realized she had to register the births of her two daughters she decided she would make it easier for herself. If she had to make up dates anyway she couldn39t remember exactly when she39d had either girl she might as well be strategic about it Johora39s May 1st Rahima39s May 2nd. One cake one party to arrange twice the girly excitement. Everybody wins. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Dhaka/blog-713719.html Life in Bangladesh as I know it revolves around water the overnight launch trip to down to Barisal waiting for the neverontime ferries that keep life moving between the islands and mainland you wouldn39t know the difference though since everything is surrounded by the fingerlets of rivers letting out into the Bay of Bengal and speed boat rides to the more remote chars. Apparently I39m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Barisal/blog-713142.html I have arrivedback in the warm sweaty embrace of Bangladesh. I39m not sure that this trip will produce any proper blogs but I thought that I39d share some photos as a start. I spent my first few evenings in Dhaka with Hena and her girls. These photos are what happens when you give a point and shoot to two snap happy camera novicesa view of their own home in Kairal slum Dhaka. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Dhaka/blog-711740.html Ten weeks is not enough. I knew from the beginning that my summer internship would fly by but I wouldnt have guessed that at the end of ten weeks I would be so reluctant to leave Lundazi. For most of the summer I talked with my mom about her midAugust arrival in Zambia as if it was something that was too far away to really start dealing with yet. All of a sudden midAugust arrived and so did http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/Lundazi/blog-527511.html Kafukufuku n The fabulous Tumbuka word for survey and the primary reason behind my relative businessblog silence in the last few weeks. As Ive mentioned before I am here to help out with the midterm evaluation of a CARE project looking at the integration of HIVAIDS and family planning services as well as the use of behavior change communication methods to address norms and beliefs http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/Lundazi/blog-518811.html Our survey has begun and last week we scheduled some community meetings to start spreading the wordpreparing villagers for the sight of our citykid research assistants cycling lost and confused around their communities doing their best to dress and speak like locals. On Wednesday we had a meeting set for a village in Chilola but when we rolled in around 4 pm we found the whole village drunk. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/Lundazi/blog-513021.html A true adventurer I am not. Though I love the experience of living in new places it is not the thrill of discovery that keeps me coming back but the feeling of comfort that comes with having settled in a foreign environment. With each new temporary life I build I confirm something I should have admitted to a long time ago that I live for the establishment of routine. And so it is that I happily http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/Lundazi/blog-510471.html The last few days have finally gotten me from the capital Lusaka to my summer home Lundazi. We left Lusaka on Wednesday deterred from our 8 am departure target by a mere 6.5 hours. Though long the drive from the countrys capital to Chipata capital of Eastern Province was also valuablean introduction to Zambia beyond the confines of my Lusaka hotel and office as well as an opportunity http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/Lundazi/blog-506376.html Despite the fact that I am working on an HIV and family planning project here in Zambia Ive so far found it easy to forget about the reality of HIV in this country. Currently approximately14 of the population is suspected to be living with HIVAIDS in Lundazi the estimate is significantly lower around 10 or 11. Some of the most recent figures rank Zambia somewhere around 7th in terms of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Eastern-Province/blog-505258.html One of the advantages of doing very little background research before arriving in a place is that everything is new and exciting. In the course of my first 72 hours here I have therefore learned and experienced a great many things about Zambia that I would never have expected.One of the greatest surprises Ive encountered is the populations general fluency with English. Literally everyone http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Lusaka/blog-504636.html I arrived in Zambia Sunday afternoon with cankles and a strong desire to never set foot on a plane again. It didnt take long however before my preoccupation with the swelling in my feet was replaced by a faint but irrepressible smile on my face and an admittedly uberWestern sense of satisfaction at having arrived in the middle of a sundrenched and quiet flat landscape. Africa I collected http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Lusaka/blog-504345.html Somehow in the rush of hosting bosses visiting from America training replacements packing and saying goodbyes I decided I should sneak off from my last week in Bangladesh and cross the border to India. I said hello to Max who is working in Banaras for the summer and goodbye to India though undoubtedly I'll be back soon and otherwise spent my 3 days in Calcutta trespassing into crumbling http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/West-Bengal/Kolkata/blog-413757.html Saying goodbye to a place is always a surprising revelation in the way that you feel about your experiences there. As the days leading up to my last trips to Barisal passed and as my final days in Bangladesh slip through my hands now I found myself wondering how I would react to the end of my time here. I arrived in Bangladesh just over a year ago. I stepped off the plane into Dhaka on the morn http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Barisal/blog-411407.html It is almost impossible in these parts to not take up a number of causes and issues outside of your official realm of obligation. In a beautiful country full of sweet and welcoming people many of whom live in very challenging circumstances it is inevitable that we end up investing energy in side projects. Ashley for example has a relationship with a community in the lake region of Rangam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Barisal/blog-407824.html Brought to you by my once lost and now returned camera chargerFinally the video of our sea plane landing. It's a decent view of the landscape but hold out for the end of the video when you can see children from the nearest village running along the banks to see what has just landed in their river.The second video is a new favorite of mine and gives a sense of that enchantedforest type feeli http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Barisal/blog-405124.html In a coincidental and tragic followup to two of the blogs I published recently Cyclone AILA hit the southern coast of Bangladesh last week washing out dozens of villages like the ones I wrote about two weeks ago and producing more climate refugees. I was actually due to go to Barisal on a launch boat the night that Aila hit but the country has a good tracking system and I was told that ther http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bangladesh/Barisal/blog-403456.html