Which continent, exactly?

This blog's title isn't in reference to actual continents (I've now been to four), but is rather drawn from "The Third and Final Continent," a stunning short story by Jhumpa Lahiri, from her collection, The Interpreter of Maladies. In particular, I'm inspired by the following quote that summarizes the attitude I try to carry with me through life and on my travels

I am not the only person to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.

I love this. It calls on us to consider the tiny details of our experiences, both one-by-one, and in the aggregate, and to maintain a sense of wonder even about the seemingly mundane things that are the building blocks of our lives, and often, the glue that binds us to our traveling companions.

This blog began as a chronicle of my study abroad experience in Cairo in Spring 2008, and continued last year while volunteering in Geneva, and South Sudan with a wonderful organization, VIDES.

Now in graduate school, I'm returning to the Continent this summer while interning in New Delhi, India.

Please enjoy, inquire, and learn.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Acronym roundup

Just like everyone in South Sudan is fine, everything in South Sudan seems to come with an acronym. This is just what I’ve seen in the compound and village, within just a couple of square miles. It’s barely scratching the surface of the funding coming in to the country as a whole.  But was worth an entry anyway.

UKAID: most of the new textbooks for the library.


USAID: A student at the school’s T-shirt, in which I see him almost every day.


UNICEF: notebooks, chalk, tape, and pencils used mostly by teachers at the school.

A whole group of Spanish NGO’s that funded construction of the school and our home.  I’ve gotten to know the grant supervisor who’s here in Juba for the next few months, and has been very interesting to see how they work.  And that they’re willing to fund religious-run schools.



UNHCHR: Tarps that have found their way to people’s homes in the village.  A reminder of how many people here really are refugees, and how resourceful they are.


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