So even my attempts to write blog entries off-line and then post them when I get a connection have been thwarted. Thwarted by a series of travel mishaps on my journey to Burundi which left me without luggage and no power cord for my laptop. Beginning in New York I had flight changes and flight delays which resulted in elevated stress levels on my part. I did manage to arrive in Burundi as planned, on time, but my checked bag is currently somewhere between Zurich and Nairobi and I am still not sure if it will ever cross paths with me again. I pleaded with the Swiss Air counter people in New York to let me carry on that bag, but they would not be persuaded. I rarely check bags, and I would estimate that probably 60-75 % of the time, when I do it ends up being a problem.

Still my troubles seem quite trivial in the light of the conditions that people find themselves in here, and even compared to development workers of a generation or two ago, when travel to this part of the world required weeks or months.