Who is Captain Dan?

Hello Friends and Family-

Yesterday I left Seattle to start my 5 week trip to East Africa. I will be in Uganda for 3 weeks; training the Mbale and Tororo staff for 2 weeks then heading back to Kampala for our regional workshop for the remaining time. I then head to Kenya to meet up with Matt and my parents for 2 weeks of safari and playing in the Indian Ocean. I can't believe that I will miss the entire month of September in Washington, that is crazy!

I had changed my seat reservation the night before I left because there were two empty seats next to each other and I was hoping to score an empty seat next to me so I could stretch out and sleep on the 10 hour flight. They had finished boarding the plane and wouldn't you know it? The last guy on the plane is sitting right next to me. Foiled!

After the guy settles in, the pilot, calling himself Captain Dan comes back to our section. He said he always likes to know who he was flying and just wanted to come back to say hi to everyone and make sure we really wanted to go to Amsterdam and not somewhere else. He proceeds to the next section in the back and makes the same introductions. Then about 5 minutes later he gets on the intercom and no joke starts playing a harmonica and singing a ditty about our trip. I look around the cabin and everyone has a look on their face like "who is this guy?"

Luckily, the flight was uneventful and I arrived in Amsterdam about 7:45 in the morning. I asked at the gate of my second flight if there were empty seats next to each other so I could switch seats (this was going to be an 8 hour flight). In the past, I have gotten a row of 4 seats all to myself as this flight usually isn't full. I switched to a new seat and was really looking forward to sleeping horizontal when a guy arrived asking to get in to the window seat next to me. Foiled again!!

I arrived safely in Entebbe last night and was met by our driver Richard who took me to the Makindye house (the house that our group owns in Kampala). I tried to stay up as late as I could last night (made it to 11 o'clock, which isn't bad considering I'd only had maybe 5-6 hours intermittent sleep over the past two days flying) but I was wide awake by 3am. So I spent the day today working and reading and trying really really hard to stay awake so that I can sleep more tonight. It's currently almost 9pm in Uganda, 10 hours ahead of Seattle.

Tomorrow we leave for Mbale which is a 5 hour journey by not very good road. Tororo is only about 45 minutes from Mbale but there are no hotels there so we will be staying in Mbale for the 2 weeks. Mbale and Tororo are located in North-East Uganda, almost to the border in Kenya. The towns were in the news during the Kenya political crisis earlier this year as both towns took in thousands of Kenyans who were fleeing their country because of the attacks against their tribe. Gangs started ambushing buses and trucks and slaughtered everyone who tried to cross into Uganda that looked to be of the tribe they were hunting.

We have built two new clinics for this study, one in Mbale and one in Tororo. They are almost complete, and I am looking forward to seeing the new spaces. I have been told there is internet in the hotel, though you have to stand in the lobby to get it and apparently the lobby is the size a broom closet. I'll send updates when I can :)