From Lusaka to Kampala

Via llongwe, Malawi and Nairobi, Kenya. It was a long travel day, but not really too bad. All of my bags arrived, the plane food didn't kill me, and I managed to maintain a fairly high level of civility with my seatmate, who was traveling in Africa, curing people of AIDS through prayer. I asked him whether he spoke in tongues, and he said, "Of course, I'm a Christian." I said, "I'm a Lutheran, and we don't do anything like that." He seemed unconvinced, but I headed him off before he tried to convert me. I think that wouldn't have gone well for him.

I've heard really nice things about Kampala, Uganda, and I'll be here until Wednesday. It's the first "new" place I've visitied in Africa since last April's trip to Kenya. It's funny how even just one time in a place makes it feel familiar, probably because the scope of what I see is actually so narrow (certain hotels, restaurants, the Mission, etc) I'll go into the field on Sunday, which is always the most important and my favorite part. This trip is to look at whether organizations that pay school fees for children as a block grant to the school (rather than on behalf of the individual child) are more successful at getting and keeping kids in school. The aim is to figure out whether educational outcomes improve, but the design is complicated by a host of factors - will there be test data available? Has the school tracked its attendance? Do other variables (lack of teacher, home situation) confound the question? It's an interesting project, and I'm excited to be involved and see what happens on this visit.