Four Days and Counting!

This entry has given me a bit of a hard time. With only four days left before I depart, there are still a million things I want to write about. At first, I thought that I would tell you everything I have learned about Ethiopia so far. I envisioned that it would serve as an “Ethiopia Travel Tour: From My Travel Books To Your Computer.” I could give you interesting tidbits such as:

The size of Ethiopia is roughly the size of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico combined.


Ethiopia’s population is roughly 80 million and is growing at 3.2% annually.


This is Ethiopia’s Flag.


Since these fast facts would most likely only come in handy if you one day find yourself on jeopardy, my “Regurgitated Travel Book Blog Entry” would have continued with information that is a bit more relevant to impending trip. For example, based on a 2005 Demographic and Health Survey, an Ethiopian woman will have an average of 5.4 children in her lifetime. While current fertility levels in Ethiopia have declined (down from 6.4 children in 1990), Ethiopia’s unmet need for family planning services remains high. Unmet need for family planning services describes the percentage of currently married women who either want to space their next birth or stop childbearing entirely, but are not using contraception. In 2005, one in three married women in Ethiopia had an unmet need for family planning services.

Now if you let me, I could talk for days about women’s health issues, partly because it is such a HUGE field, but mostly because I adore women’s health. I would, without hesitation, say that women’s health is the MOST important social justice and public health issue of our nation and our earth (with environmental health running a very close second, of course).


This brings me to what I really want to write about, I want to write about me. Not in a gloating or self-serving manner, but I think that if you are going to travel with me to Africa and back, then you should know a little more about me. Since it is my goal to take you with me, in a sense, I plan on being very honest in my blog. You will get a close glimpse into my personal reactions and feelings as I experience a country that is completely new to me. This is both daunting and exhilarating all wrapped up together. Since I am a glass half full kind of gal, I am choosing to focus on the exhilarating aspects for now.

Basically, I am SO EXCITED!








On our first conference call we, 4 work-study tour participants, were asked to share what we were most excited about. I couldn’t pick just one, so I picked four.











My excitement has not dwindled. . . . This is me when I received my “Congratulations, you have been selected” email . . . . .











And this is me when my briefing notebook arrived in the mail . . . . .












Me at the outdoor store buying mosquito repellent . . . . .












Me in yoga . . . . .








And me after getting my shots . . . . .


I know my examples seem silly, but in all honestly I really did jump up and down in the elevator after getting my yellow fever vaccine. Going to Africa is the trip of a lifetime, for me at least. Now, as if getting to finally visit the continent of my dreams isn’t enough, I have the honor and the privilege of traveling with some very cool people AND learning more about my favorite subject, women’s health (and the environment, of course!). Not to mention, our itinerary is basically a “whos who” list of NGO celebrities. (Hence Reason #3 of “Why I am Excited”)

With all of this excitement it is very hard to even imagine the daunting aspects of traveling, but they are there. I remain optimistic that I will not encounter any unpleasant illness or infections, I will not have crazy side effects from my malaria medication, I will not (or the airline will not) loose any luggage, my eczema will not flair up uncontrollably, I will not become a magnet for mosquitoes like I am in the U.S., and I will not pack too many pairs of shoes and look like that obnoxious twenty something American girl that I fear so much. Luckily, I have the most control over the shoe-packing dilemma.








In Peace, Explore, Enjoy, Protect the Planet