A week to go

In a week's time I will be on my way to Uganda. At the moment I feel totally unprepared: all I have done is to get out the suitcase I am planning to use and decided that it will never hold all that I need to take. Enough clothes, toothpaste, face cream, shampoo, insect repellent, books, teaching materials, medical supplies, sheets, towels and goodness knows what else to last until December. And money! I will be miles from a bank and while I shan't have many shopping opportunities I will certainly need a regular supply of cash to pay for food and, more especially, petrol as I shall be driving round to different schools and villages and will be expected to pay for fuel as it is so expensive.
People ask if I am nervous about going and I can honestly say 'no'. It feels very much like starting any new job: there is an uncertainty about exactly what the work will involve, what my colleagues and the pupils will be like and whether I will be able to do the job expected of me; but because I will not have the ultimate responsibility of running a school this feels a much less worrying option than starting my previous job! I am eager for the new experiences that lie ahead, even in the knowledge that there will be a certain amount of physical hardship (cold showers!), loneliness and probably some illness. I feel very fortunate to have the chance to do something completely new and challenging, to live with a different group of people in a culture and country about whiach I know very little.
Tomorrow I go up to London to get my visa at the Ugandan High Commission. A step in the right direction!