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the AB3 plus a recently-arrived volunteer piled in to elsie the land cruiser on wednesday morning and headed down to ssembabule, one of the districts where MIHV works. Nowadays this might be the kind of occasion where odin stays home with me or florence goes with paige and odin to the field. but there wasn’t enough milk in the freezer to separate mom and odin for 2-3 days, and elsie was too full to add a nanny, so off i went! odin and i spent most of our time in the hotel. ssembabule is ridiculous dusty right now so outside time was limited. makes me realize how sweet our garden is. check out a bunch of odin photos: [Read more →]

last saturday our best friend’s brother, who was visiting from the states with his wife, died in a road accident in queen elizabeth national park. his wife was seriously injured and was flown to amsterdam for surgery. what followed was a very intense week of ups and downs and lots of reminders of what’s important in life. [Read more →]

how is it already june? how is it that we mark three years in uganda this month? how is odin 10 months old today (june 2)? arg, time goes right by. plenty doing on our end. i was in karamoja for a week. paige and odin were in west nile for three days. we leave for a big trip (all together…there’s a concept) on sunday. jump ahead for more. pictures, video, links, it’s the total package. [Read more →]

i head out sunday morning for a six-day photo assignment in karamoja. that’s the northeast corner of uganda. I’ll be documenting the programs of Save the Children. i’m really excited to visit the region because i otherwise probably wouldn’t be able to go on my own. the natives are nomadic herders and violent cattle raids are kind of a way of life. it will be a whole new landscape and people that i haven’t seen yet. everything i hear is how beautiful it is up there. look for plenty of photos when i get back!

now that i’m gone a bunch with photo jobs and such, we have a nanny around more often. she’s here on some of the days that i’m home, too, because there’s plenty of work to be done when i’m back from shooting. i definitely don’t have the multitasking skills to get my stuff done and take care of odin for the day. but my favorite days are still when the two of us get to hang and play and go out and about. pictures and more after the jump. [Read more →]

today we did a fun run at the international school. i ran 10k, (finished 34th) and paige walked the 5k with odin (finished 248th and 249th). big surprise was moses kipsiro showing up right before the start and jumping in. moses was the bronze medalist in the 5000 at the 2007 track world championships, got 5th in the olympic 5000 last year and just last month got SILVER at the world cross country championships in amman, jordan. he is the real deal. young, too, maybe only 22-23? so he is 100% on track to win some world championship and olympic gold medals in the near future. check out the pictures after the jump! [Read more →]

the boys came over this morning to hang out and play with odin. odin was napping, so they filled in the time with cleaning off the patio, which has lately come under attack by messy hoardes of marauding caterpillers. while they were cleaning, i went to the store to get a football, something that we really should have had here at the house since the beginning but has taken me nearly three years to get around to. photos of odin, the boys and action shots after the jump! [Read more →]

hi, remember us? i mean, it’s not like i need to update this thing because you’re all on facebook anyway. but if you insist, here is a quick rundown. words, photos, and videos after the jump! [Read more →]

i did a longish survey for carleton today, mostly dealing with career/life after school. there were a couple funny questions. more info and screen shots after the jump! [Read more →]

parents in the u.s. stress about all the vaccines for their kids and the potential side effects and do i really need to give my kid all of this? i stress about whether or not my kid’s gotten enough vaccines. polio, pertussis, measles...diseases of a century ago in the u.s., but in africa they’re modern day risks for little ones. on the drive home from dinner tuesday night (our first night out without the kiddo) we listened to bbc world service coverage of the first reported case of polio in uganda since 1996 (uganda was certified polio free in 2006). first thing i did once home? quick online search re polio transmission and double-checked odin’s immunization records to confirm that he’d received the necessary 3 polio vaccines. odin’s risk to exposure?  minimal.  3 polio vaccines?  check.  okay, i can eliminate polio from my list of “to worry about with a baby in africa.”  took him to the doctor friday to get the remaining vaccines from his 6-month check-up that were out of stock last time.  3 hep b vaccines?  check.  bummer is they’re still out of stock on rotavirus.  their order’s in the country but getting held up at customs in entebbe, and they’re the only clinic in uganda who give rota vaccine.  the boy’s gotten 2 out of the 3 for rota, so hopefully the supply will get through customs soon before he misses the window for the third.  phil’s going to check if he could bring a dose with him from europe, only worry is breaking the cold chain. the reality of vaccines is just a little different here, huh.