Both of my translators were an hour late for my morning meeting with the 40 outreach workers. When Timoty and Anur arrived – after I’d been desperately (and unsuccessfully) pantomiming a short message about which teams needed to fill out new HR forms for the past 45 minutes – I asked them where they had […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on love triangle in south sudanStefanos, the Nigerian feeding center nurse in the forefront. Prominently displayed compound clothesline in background. Don’t look for my knickers. Haven’t tackled that project yet. 45 people, 2 “shower” cubicles, just to the right of the clotheslines. Make it quick.
Continue Reading... Comments Off on first days in jamam refugee camp, south sudan: a photo essayI’m at it again. Packing. This time it’s for a one-month stint in South Sudan. The conditions will be tough, I’ve been warned. Shared sleeping tents, limited electricity, knee-deep mud, two latrines for forty people. I’ve already gotten much advice from the hardened colleagues already there: Bring vitamins, Ruby shared, because fruits and vegetables are […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on aid worker underwearIn the last essay in her book “I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman,” the late Nora Ephron expressed unhappiness about being older. The tone, which borders on the desolate, is quite different than the lightness of the other essays in the book. ‘The honest truth is that it’s […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on was nora ephron right? does getting older suck?A Northern Californian childhood had some major advantages. There were mountains to hike and ski, the ocean to swim and fish, and the Redwood forest to breathe in and explore. The cultural patrimony was rich as well: hippies. At least in the late ’70’s and early ’80’s, in Marin County hippies were parked in their […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on the only thing Jesus Christ and J.R. Ewing have in common