From Khartoum, Sudan!
Today is the beginning of the weekend in Sudan, so I have a bit of a respite after two weeks of work in Addis and then Khartoum. So far this trip has been extremely useful from a work perspective; I have been able to collect some needed information and models (for better understanding floods in the Blue Nile) and activate the process of preparing for some focus group discussions with various interest: fishermen, brick-makers using clay silt from the river, and some farmers in the massive Gezira irrigation scheme in Sudan. My favorite moments are spent talking to various Sudanese and Ethiopians about these issues and hearing their stories and perspectives.
Khartoum is very hot and bone dry this time of the year...after a week in the cool Ethiopian highlands, it was a bit of a shock to come here and face the 45-50 degree C high temperatures. For those who need help with the conversion, that is about 113-122 F, or maybe just "hot". At the end of a day spent outside, everything feels parched, my eyes, my nose, my skin. I am thankful for the bottle of lotion in my hotel room. However, I don't feel like the dry heat is intolerable as long as I stay in the shade. In many ways this time reminds me of the hot season in Mali, but staying in an air-conditioned hotel makes it much, much easier. Email is relatively dependable too, and I have been Skyping with Shuwen regularly, talking about these various projects and our home improvement decisions. That's fun to think about!
Next week (starting Sunday) I'll hopefully hold a pair of focus groups and get out to the field for a night or two. I will also have more meetings of various types. The following week I will be harder to reach as I will likely be spending several days with irrigators several hours outside the city.
That's all for now...