DAVID

MY THOUGHTS ON AFRICA

September 5, 2000

If I had to sum up my thoughts and experiences in one word then that word would have to be enlightening. Having never traveled to an "underdeveloped" country before I have never truely contemplated how fragile the human body is. I am making reference to the number of vaccinations and medications that I have had to take in order to travel to a location where there is already a working human society. I am beginning to think that perhaps our ability to improve our health through modern medicine has somehow stalled our bodies natural course of evolution. While plagues, parasites, and viruses can be and are devastating I am not sure that western society has taken the correct course of action when dealing with them. Perhaps if scientists had directed their efforts into more natural remedies our bodies would have evolved into stronger and healthier bodies as opposed to the drug dependent bodies that we have now.

Apart from the vaccinations, I have also discovered a little something about myself. I am very mathematically oriented and the thought of emersing myself in a field of study that requires emotional understanding, such as cultural art, frightens me. I do not mean to suggest that I am emotionally unequipped to handle the study of art but simply that I will need to develop analytical skills that do not rely purely on factual input. I imagine that I will have to hone my emotional reactions into tools to help me understand and synthesize what I will be exposed to. As frightening as that seems to me now I realize that this is an extremely important opportunity for me to be able to discover and utilize a form of thinking that has the potential to redefine my understanding of how the world works.

Beyond the things that I have just discussed there is little left for me to say regarding my preparations for Africa. Besides having to fill out a bunch of paperwork and save up a small fortune things have been extremely uneventful. I am definately looking forward to everything that I will be exposed to in Africa. A large part of my excitement is due to my knowledge of the people that I will be traveling with. I expect that I will learn almost as much from them as I will in actual study. I hope they feel the same way about me too because a large part of this trip, for me, is the thought that I might have the opportunity to share my perspectives and understandings so that everybody is as enriched, if not more so, by this trip as I.

October 2, 2000

I arrived in Cote d'Ivoire today. Here's to the future.

November 1, 2000

Almost one month has passed since I set my first foot on Ivoirian soil. I have survived living in a house with 18 other people. Regardless of what has been in the news, that has been the most dangerous situation encountered so far. It is interesting to see how difficult it is to view American culture from inside America. It wasn't until I was placed in an entirely different and extremely foreign culture that my "Americanness" was able to shine through; but let me put that aside for the moment while I discuss what I have learned about Cote d'Ivoire.

COTE D'IVOIRE IS NOT WHAT YOU CAN READ IN ANY TEXTBOOK OR LEARN IN ANY LECTURE!

(Please note the use of Cote d'Ivoire and Ivoirian as opposed to Africa and African, this change will be explained further on)

WE INTERRUPT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IN ORDER FOR DAVID TO GO TO BED, MORE NEWS LATER!

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