The field. The real field. To spend over a week in Amsterdam and Nairobi can’t be considered being in the field, even though they were hard working days, very stressful and full of difficulties. It wasn’t until I was looking at the baobabs, at the wild goats and the small dusty villages sliding outside the window roadside during our final trip to Dadaab camp, when I really felt on the field.
“Work in joy”, general Yamashi used to say. Ok, Yamashi San, at least, we agree on this! The fourth day was a light one: we just had to go to the UN Kenya headquarter to interview Challisse McDonough, senior WFP spokeswoman, and Baptiste Burgaud from the Logistic Cluster. Both interviews were supposed to take place in the late afternoon, so we could finally wake up late, take our time, write a little and enjoy the view from the hotel.
Manage your expectations… yes, that’s definitely a good suggestion. It’s a basic skill, always useful, especially when all you’ve been planning for the past three weeks twists into a new plan, unexpected and disappointing.
My second day in Kenya. I almost could not believe to be there as I woke up after a deep sleep night. I was expecting some nightmares due to malarone I was taking, but nothing, just a tiny weird dream about something I could not even remember. I opened the curtains and a bitter smile appeared on my face: hard to realize but seems like I can bring the rain to Africa too. No sun, heavy grey sky, a light rain and a barely over 20 temperature. Is this supposed to be the land where the sun bake your brain inside your skull?
Waking up so early in the morning has always been a problem to me. I usually work till late at night, and I can't go to sleep until two in the morning, so it is almost not possible to me to wake up before ten in the morning. It does not affect me to wake up at five though, because today is different...very different. Today is the "big jump day" as I used to call it since a couple of days. Liege airport was really close to the Park Inn hotel, where me and Jen spent the night.
