India

India...wow. I am in the south eastern end of the country in the fourth largest city...called Chennai. It is incredibly hot and very crowded. I love it! Our hotel has roaches and bedbugs..so I never feel lonely. There is also a fine selection of Bollywood films and music videos playing constantly on the t.v. I arrived at my hotel at 5 a.m. on Saturday April 5th. I recieved a phone call at 6 a.m. ...just as I was falling asleep...letting me know that we would be picked up for an eye care camp at 8:45 a.m. The camp was set up in the entrance to an apartment building to service the surrounding residents in need. Photographically speaking it was a dream. All the walls were white and they relected the natural light that was streaming in from various angles. The people that I met were all very kind and anxious to participate in my photographic documentation of the event. It was a blast.

Reach The Children

I had some time at the
beginning of my trip to accompany James with the Kampala office of Reach The Children. This organization is currently facilitating micro loans and micro industrial projects in and around Kampala. One woman was given a loan to purchase chickens and now has more than eight hundred chickens and is able to support her family with the money made from the egg sales. Another women has started an organization that teaches girls how to sew school uniforms and sachels to sell to tourists to support themselves. While all the projects were impressive, the most amazing was The Grandma Project. In a small village about an hour outside Kampala there is a group of grandmothers that have adopted groups of children who's parents have died from Aids. Each grandmother is raising a little flock of toddlers. They have started a 15 acre garden that they are learning to farm so they can feed the village. These women are amazing.

Safari

While I was in Uganda we had a chance to go up to Murchison Falls National Park. We chased animals around while sitting on the top of an SUV. I could do that everyday for the rest of my life I would be in heaven.... although I don't know what I liked more, seeing the animals, or riding on the top of the car....its difficult to choose. The craziest part of the entire trip were the Tsetse flies that we encountered on our ride into the park. They would fly up and attach themselves to the sides of the van and then wait until we slowed down for a baboon in the road, or to avoid a pothole....and then they would fly up into the open front window and start biting us. It was shockingly too strategic for an insect. We had to finally shut all the windows - which was torture without air conditioning. At one point we had what seemed like a hundred flies on the outside of car. It was scarier than the worst horror movie I had ever seen.

Neglected Tropical Disease

I have always had a strange fascination with infectious diseases. I can't really explain it other than to say that it is like when someone looks at the ocean or a majestic mountain range and is captivated by the magnificence of nature, or the power of God. Disease has the ability to change and destroy life in such a way that its power must be respected. The fact that it can also be prevented is the dominant source of my fascination. I was nervous to see the effects of these diseases first hand, but compelled by the prospect of documenting them.

I traveled to the countryside with Patrick from the Kampala Ministry of Health. When we arrived in each district we would meet with the local health officials and another doctor would accompany us for the day. We went into villages and walked on dirt trails to many different clusters of huts. It was impressive that the local health officials could locate each subject even in the most remote areas. On the first day we saw people suffering from various forms of Elephantiasis, Trachoma, and Schistosomiasis.

Uganda

In October I had an opportunity to travel to Uganda and photograph Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). RTI International was kind enough to make their facilities and resources available to me during my stay. I had never been to Africa before and I was amazed! Uganda is beautiful and the people are all incredibly friendly. As you fly into Entebbe airport you have a great view of the famous Lake Victoria. While I was in Uganda, the government was busy facilitating a grand beautification project which included road repairs. On the ride to Kampala from the airport there were piles of large basketball sized rocks on the side of the road. My driver and soon to be friend, Brian explained to me that these large rocks are hammered down to gravel and then spread over the road. As a result of all of the roadside industry...rocks were constantly flying up onto the car. It made the already wild driving conditions even more thrilling. I laughed as we were barreling down the road, cars swerving in all directions, with gravel constantly flying up around us. This was much better than Disneyland. I soon found that Kampala was an intriguing city with beautiful green hills and creepy gray storks (the size of a large dog!) that circled overhead. I also discovered that it had some of the best food I had ever eaten. I could never quite convince myself to indulge in the local specialties...goat stew is really not my thing....but the Thai, Indian, Chinese, and even Italian food was some of the best I have ever had.