First pyramids

They say that when the sky is clear you can see the pyramids from the main road along the east bank of the Nile, the road that we drive up every morning and down every evening going to and from work. I found out this afternoon that this is true. Looking across the Nile and through the high rise buildings of the city, I spotted two pyramids in the distance. They just seemed out of place, appearing in the midst of the hectic capital city, yet there they were, incredible.

Alligators, owls and turkeys

Just in case you were starting to think I actually live in the United States and not on the African continent, please know that I noticed three cages just outside the HR department today - one is home to two alligators, one to an owl and one to three turkeys. Random things like that don't exist at offices in the U.S.

Working for the Navy means...

...learning the difference between a captain, a commanding officer and an executive officer is necessary to figure out hierarchy in the office.

...riding to work in an armored vehicle with bullet-proof glass.

...having to remember that the rules you follow at work come from the U.S. Department of Defense.

...having access to a real United States Post Office in a foreign country.

...being able to borrow magazines and DVDs from that same post office.

...having one hour out of the eight you work each day designated for using the gym that's right upstairs from your office.

...making multiple trips to the U.S. Embassy to get security clearances.

...not having access to a computer at work until after finally getting those security clearances.

...not having access to the internet even after finally getting access to a computer at work after finally getting those security clearances.

...having an occasional meal at the delicious cafeteria at the Embassy (there is no sarcasm in that statement).

...having your car thoroughly searched for explosives (read: under the car is swiped with some kind of metal detectors; all door handles are wiped with a cloth to check for residue; the hood is opened so the engine can be searched) each morning before entering the parking lot.

...having coworkers with access to the Armed Forces Network (AFN) on their televisions, which shows college football on the weekends.

IEIP, GDDRP, NAMRU-3 & DoD

I live in a world of acronyms. I work for IEIP, which is a component of CDC's GDDRP and, in Egypt, falls under NAMRU-3, which in turn is under the DoD. Let me explain...

The International Emerging Infections Program (IEIP) is a core component of the CDC's Global Disease Detection and Response Program (GDDRP), "the agency’s principal and most visible program for strengthening global capacity to not only identify but also rapidly and effectively respond to emerging infections around the world. As part of CDC’s global strategy, centers of excellence that integrate disease surveillance, applied research, prevention, and control activities have been established in developing countries."

IEIP sites are located in Thailand, Kenya, Guatemala and, now, Egypt. A fifth site will be established in China in the future. These sites "serve as international and national resources for global infectious disease surveillance, conduct applied epidemiologic and laboratory research, develop measures to prevent and control emerging infectious diseases that threaten the U.S., and strengthen the global public health infrastructure... Specific goals include conducting emerging infectious disease surveillance and research of global public health importance, providing diagnostic and epidemiologic resources when outbreaks occur, training local scientists, serving as platforms for regional infectious disease control activities, and disseminating proven public health tools."

The IEIP site in Egypt is a collaboration with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 (NAMRU-3). The U.S. Typhus Commission was established "in 1942 to develop effective prevention and control measures for typhus. A research laboratory associated with the Abbasia Fever Hospital in Cairo, Egypt and staffed by American scientists and technicians was established to address the typhus problem among troops in North Africa. The Typhus Commission played a major role in averting a serious typhus outbreak during and following World War II. After the war, the Navy was invited by the Egyptian government to continue collaborative studies of endemic tropical and subtropical diseases with Egyptian scientists. In response to this request, the NAMRU-3 was formally established, at the site of the former Typhus Commission, by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy in 1946." In the past sixty years, NAMRU-3 has grown significantly. Today, facilities include office space, warehouse and supply storage space, biosafety level 3 biocontainment space, an insectary and animal facility.

However, NAMRU-3 is still a naval facility and therefore falls under jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Thus, since my contract is with NAMRU-3, I am technically employed under the U.S. Department of Defense.

I hope this helps things make a little more sense!

Fast food

I hate to admit it, but the closest restaurant to my house is McDonald's, complete with the golden arches and a playground. I've also already seen Chili's, T.G.I.Friday's and Starbucks around town. Yuck.

Figs, dates and pomegranate

After work today, I walked to a road nearby that is filled with restaurants and shops. I stopped at a stand selling fruits and vegetables and picked out a few. Just before I paid, the owner presented me with a bag containing two figs, two dates and a pomegranate, a gift since it was my first visit to that particular stand. I think I'll go back.

My luggage arrived!

My luggage actually arrived this afternoon! I am THRILLED!

Arrival in Egypt

Yesterday I arrived in Egypt after a relatively smooth trip. I flew from Greenville/Spartanburg to Washington, D.C., to Frankfurt to Cairo and arrived in the afternoon. I was greeted just past the gate at the airport by a gentleman from the travel department at NAMRU-3 (my office, more on that later). He quickly took my passport, obtained my visa, ushered me through passport control and found a cart for my luggage. Then we stood by baggage claim and waited. And waited. And waited. My bags were stuck in D.C. They would come on a flight that night and be delivered the next morning. I called this morning. They were stuck in Frankfurt. They would come on a flight tonight and be delivered tomorrow morning. I am doubtful.

But, other than the missing luggage, life in Cairo is off to a good start. My apartment is very nice, with an open floorplan, comfortable furniture, fast internet, air conditioning and consistently hot water. The neighborhood is green and quiet and has a road filled with stores, restaurants and coffee shops nearby. I think I'll be perfectly comfortable here. I'm living with a Swedish girl who is working in the labs at NAMRU-3 (as I said, more later) and we are getting along well.

Now the really exciting part of these first days in Cairo has been the food. Last night, even though I was exhausted, I went to dinner with a group from work. There were actually sixteen of us, including epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, commanding officers and families. We went to a restaurant at the Italian school and the food was absolutely incredible. We sat down and within a few minutes plates and plates of stuffed tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, salami, fresh garlic bread, prosciutto, mushrooms, pizza and so much more! Just when I thought I was finished, waiters cleared the empty plates and set the tables with pasta bowls and soon six enormous plates of pesto gnocchi, spaghetti bolognese and spicy penne appeared. And after that there was even gelato and cappuccino. (The amount of space I've spent writing about this is probably a clear sign of how good it was!) I'll just quickly mention that this was followed by breakfast this morning of a fresh bagel with cream cheese and for dinner we're going to order Chinese delivery.

That's enough for now. I'll write more soon.

Thank you, RZHRG!

I don't know if anyone from RZHRG reads this, but, in case any of you do, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your kindness, for everything you have taught me, for your generosity, for so many laughs and for so many good times. It's been a pleasure to work with all of you. Please keep in touch.

Women in Rwandan parliament

In a world first, women in the majority in Rwandan legislature
by: AFP

Rwanda became the first country in the world where women outnumber men in parliament, according to provisional results announced Thursday at the close of a four-day legislative vote.

Women won 20 of the 53 seats attributed in direct elections. In Rwanda's unique voting system, another 24 seats are reserved for women in an indirect vote.

According to an official close to the youth council, a woman may also have won one of the two seats reserved for Rwandan youth.

With 44 guaranteed seats, women would account for at least 55 percent of the lower chamber in Rwanda.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), that would place Rwanda far ahead of Sweden, where women account for 47 percent of parliament, and third-placed Cuba, where 43.2 percent of lawmakers are women.

"The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) welcomes this historical result. For the first time, an elected national parliament has a majority of women," said IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson in a statement.

According to provisional results announced on Monday, President Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front already secured a majority in the elections.

The vote, only the second parliamentary polls since the 1994 genocide in which at least 800,000 people were killed, began on Monday and closed Thursday with the vote for the seat reserved for the disabled.

Rwanda already had the world's most gender equal parliament, with women controlling 48 percent of seats in the outgoing legislature.

Kagame has earned international praise for granting women access to the political arena on a continent where, according to the IPU, the average percentage of women in parliament stands at a lowly 17 percent.

The proportion of women in politics is also a result of the imbalance in the country's population, so many men having been killed in the genocide and others having fled.

According to the electoral commission, women account for 55 percent of the 4.7 million registered voters.

As she cast her ballot on Tuesday, Eugenie Musanabaganwa, a nurse in her thirties, told AFP the high number of women in parliament could only help the country "take the right decisions."

"Very often, it was the woman who pushed her husband to confess to what he did during the genocide," she said.

None of the candidates for seats reserved to women are permitted to declare a political affiliation, and women voters are allowed to back two each.

Bellancilla Nyonawankusi, a Kigali official responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the voting, said women lawmakers carried a double burden.

"The role of the elected females is double: they must on the one hand concern themselves with the implementation of government decisions, and on the other be a voice for the grassroots," she said.

"All Rwandans have a role to play in the reconciliation, but women can do it better than men. They are the ones who were the first to be affected by the genocide and they are the ones who are bringing up the children," she added.

First observations of America

A few observations from my first twenty-four hours back in America...

The aerial view of the Blue Ridge Mountains make me homesick for the hills of Rwanda. The steering wheel is on the left side of the car but cars drive on the right side of the road. The internet is amazingly fast. Air conditioning is incredibly cold. Hot water is really, really hot. I look like a clown in make up. Americans have so much land and so much of it they don't even need or use. Driving is much easier without buses, motos and pedestrians. Real mattresses are much, much better than Rwandafoam. After a year without preservatives in my diet, my stomach isn't quite ready for American cuisine. I miss the cord hanging on the wall by my pillow that turns off the lights in my room when I'm ready to go to sleep. Apparently there don't have to be fruit flies and cockroaches in the bathroom. My malaria medication may have been more useful if it had been in Rwanda rather than in my dresser drawer in South Carolina. Ice can make drinks really cold. It's strange to hear everyone speak English all the time.

Flight turbulence

I think I've taken one too many bumpy flights over the past year. On my flight yesterday from Detroit to Greenville, there was a little turbulence. I didn't think anything of it until I realized the passengers across the aisle were looking around nervously. I continued reading my book. The turbulence grew worse and I kept reading my book. After a little while, I realized I had become the guy I used to watch on my flights in Africa, the one who had clearly seen worse and more turbulent flights and therefore wasn't worried about the current one. Though the flight from Detroit may have been a little bumpy, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as some of the flights I took in Africa. I'm not sure if that gave the people around me the impression that I was calm or that I was crazy.

Back to the United States

I think I may have just returned from the smoothest trip I've ever taken between Africa and the United States. I arrived at the Kigali airport two hours before my flight and had no trouble checking in - no issue over whether my ticket was paper or electronic, no suggestion that I didn't actually have a booking on the flight, no cancellation of the flight, no request that I pay more than the standard amount for my excess baggage, no trouble at all. We arrived in Nairobi on time and then departed on time as well. The flights to Amsterdam and then Detroit were also smooth. Only the final flight from Detroit to Greenville was delayed, and it was only delayed by about fifteen minutes.

It was't a bad trip at all.