Checking In

Thanks so much to those of you who read my blog while I was in East Africa. It was so great to know that people cared.

What the heck happened to Leor? If you pondered this question, then allow me to apologise for being so silent for so long.

I returned from my East African adventure in September of 2005 and have mainly been in Calgary since. I was starting to feel embarrassed because people were stumbling onto my blog and writing to me asking 'Wow, how are you enjoying Africa?' Then I would have to explain that my blog is grossly outdated and not only am I back from Africa, but I have been back for nearly a year.

The truth is that I had a very difficult time re-adjusting to life back home and for a while, was unsure where my home even was. My time in East Africa and especially Uganda was such a powerful experience and so emotional that it has taken me a really long time to process and critically analyse it all.

In the meantime, I have gone through such tremendous change. I came back to my work in Calgary at the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST), ready to tackle with renewed vigour, the overwhelming issue of clean water. After a few months of working on a website and various administrative duties, I found myself extremely restless, unnecessarily burnt-out and hungry for something I could not quite place my finger on.

I think I had grown so much as a person through my African experience that I was finding it difficult to do the same job I had done before I left. I also started to ask myself questions that so many of us ask ourselves, but I was suddenly demanding very clear answers of myself. Questions like: Where do I want to live? Where do I want to be in 5 years? What are my career aspirations? How can I get out of debt? How can I integrate what I learned in Africa into my everyday life?

Focusing on these questions led me away from CAWST and onto new and different challenges. I am now working at an international oil and gas company based in Calgary in their safety, environment and social responsibility group. I am also in a new committed relationship with a great girl (Brenna) who also spent time in Africa and is working and undertaking post-graduate studies in international development-related fields.

Kikagati is still close to my heart and I have surrounded myself with photos of the children of that village at work. I have heard through people I keep in touch with in Uganda that the NGO that James, Obed and I trained on the BioSand Filters have now raised enough money to launch their own BioSand Filter program.

A small group of AIESEC (the youth organisation I used to work with) students from the University of British Columbia have connected with Africa Community Technical Services (ACTS - the same NGO I volunteered with in Uganda) and are now in the same village I was in to work on a BioSand Filter project. They were in Calgary before they left to participate in a CAWST training course and I helped them prepare for their trip. You can check out their blog at http://www.adiuganda.blogspot.com/ and the website for an NGO they started at http://www.adicanada.org/ I am very anxious to read updates on the rainwater harvesting project I worked in that area.

I also try and keep regular contact with the team I worked with in Uganda. Dax recently got married and is expecting a baby; Geoff and Paula moved to Calgary, started an NGO specifically focused on rainwater catchments and will be returning to Uganda in the next year or so; Ed is still consulting around town, traveling and active in Alberta's great mountain landscapes; Jamie finished his studies in Denmark and recently returned to Calgary to find work; Rebecca is still working in Yellowknife but she came to Calgary a couple of times to visit; Jeff is in Edmonton now but participated in a relief mission to northern Pakistan after the area was devastated by a major earthquake.

In the coming weeks, I plan to post here more pictures from East Africa, update you on what our water project is like one year later (according to the AIESEC students there now) and sharing more of my retrospective thoughts on what I will always remember as one of the most significant experiences of my life.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

Leor