Feb. 11, 2015:
After nearly 30-plus hours in airports and Dutch planes, I finally arrived
with four other IWMF fellows in Uganda. Jet lagged? More like jet comatose.
By we were all excited, humming with some unspoken energy like the cloud of
mosquitoes we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by.
“You! You!”
A stern police officer in a green uniform and a face mask barked at us.
“Ebola! Ebola!” He slapped a giant container of hand sanitizer.
Like children, we put our hands out. He sprayed them then turned,
satisfied, to his next batch of stunned passengers.
From there, it was straight to the nurses in starched pink uniforms. An
electric thermometer gun pointed straight at the forehead – click – and we
were done.
Approved to enter Uganda.
Clean hands, sleepy minds…it was time for the adventure to begin. – Irene Noguchi