Back, by Popular Demand

So, I'm at the beginning of another (short) African adventure, and I've decided to resurrect my blog.  We (Ben, Colin & I) arrived in Kenya on Sunday afternoon, and I was reunited with a lot of my old colleagues and team-mates on Monday morning.  It was a heartwarmingly warm welcome!

A particular highlight has been the chance to spend time with an old friend who I thought I would never see again. We last saw wach other on the airstrip in Doro back in September 2010

For those of you who don't already know, we are heading out to Doro for a couple of weeks (all that annual leave would permit) to help out on a housing project there.  We fly out from Nairobi early on Thursday and will arrive in Doro that afternoon.

Since arriving in Kenya and hearing from the other SIM people I have been struck by just how much different Doro is now to when I left.  Back in 2010 it was a small village of a few thousand people in the middle of the Sudanese bush.  Now (apparently) it is the site of a major relief operation, with tens of thousands of refugees on the doorstep of the village.  I cant get my head round what it is going to look like...

The more I think about this, the more aprehensive I become about going back in.  It's kind of like it'd be better going in completely blind than going in thinking you know what a place is like, when in fact you have no idea.  The one thing that outweighs that apprehension is the anticipation of more heartwarming reunions with friends (both former team-mates and Sudanese alike) which is, after all, what it is all about.

So doubtless, once I'm back in Doro, I'll have plenty of interesting experience to tell you about, and I'll attempt to do so with my customary mixture of humour and harsh reality.   Which gives you all something to look forward to...