Back to Africa...aaahhhh

ahhhh, sigh of relief - back traveling again, learning again - living again.

The 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was miserable, with 5 of the hours spent gripping my seat in the most violent, sustained turbulence I can recall flying in. I guess I should have know it was going to be really bad, as the head pilot had gotten on the intercom at the boarding gate to warn us about turbulence due to the (SHOCKING!) rainstorms passing through ATL. Having just returned from a weekend with my family in Disney World (yes, again - don't hate, appreciate!) it felt like the roller coasters, only no one was yelling "look no hands!" Instead, if they held their hands up it was to signal another barf bag had been filled. good thing they stewardesses weren't able to serve lunch, or the bags would have been overflowing. Nonetheless, we made it to Joburg where I was spending the night in an airport hotel before flying on to Livingstone, Zambia today. Unfortunately, I had put to much faith in Delta to notice I was spending the night in Joburg - they put by suitcase all the way through to Livingstone, which meant i spent the night with no suitcase and continued on to Livingstone somewhat disheveled (at least I'd packed panties for just such an event). My major worry was thinking smarter that Joburg would, of course, have the reputation for suitcases often being gone through by the luggage handlers, the result being lots of missing jewelry, cameras etc. (Ahah! THAT"S why so many of the suitcases in that airport were saran-wrapped....next time I’ll be on it). Luckily, when I touched down in Livingstone nothing was missing and my suitcase was in fact on board.

The Joburg airport is clearly prepping big time for the World Cup, it was great to see all the memorabilia popping up everywhere. I was trying to fathom arriving in the airport during the mayhem and how crazy it must be trying to get to World Cup or Olympics-type events. A much greater problem for those of us in Public Health, however, is that the World Cup is creating a huge barrier for us in getting much-needed supplies such as anti-retroviral treatments and other life-saving drugs and equipment to not only South Africa, but the countries around it. Imagine- trying to book a flight to Joburg or even in neighboring countries such as Malawi, where all people and supplies are routed via S. Africa, when airplane prices ae triple their normal prices or completely sold out. Aid workers are now scrambling to find ways to continue working in pretty much all of Southern Africa, and we have been warned to hold off on flying anywhere in the region between May-July.
My colleagues here in Zambia who are implementing the HIV prevention intervention I work on were at the airport to pick me up. After giving me a couple of hours to change (finally get out of those travel clothes!) they picked me up and gave me a tour of Livingstone – a very charming and cute small town. The best part was of course going to the Zambezi river (it truly is “mighty”) two a couple of different lodges where tourists stay about half a mile up from Victoria Falls. Although I didn’t see the Falls today, the river is gorgeous and ginormous, and I can’t wait to do some tourist things over the weekends – pictures will definitely be forthcoming.