Really? Really?

Could it really happen?  An opportunity to return to Africa?  The thought is too much to comprehend most of the time.  Even though nothing is for sure, dates have not been confirmed, plane tickets and visas have not been purchased, but the possibility is there.  Really there.
There is a long and involved story behind all of this, one that is too complicated for the world of blogging.  However, the passion for Africa is alive and well within me and resides in a sacred and protected corner of my soul.  Even more profound is the experience of being on the magnificent African continent.  The journey to Africa is long, tiresome and not for the timid traveler.  But the exhiliration of landing on African soil is beyond words.  Africa is a desperate and hopeless place though.  It is a place of extreme poverty, injustice, suffering and at times, unspeakable atrocities.  Yet this place resonates with me. 
Walking into the compound living quarters in a village only accessible by plane, just south of the Darfur region, where just a few years ago massive air attacks were carried out and thousands of innocent men, women and children were savagely murdered, actually feels like home.  There are no phone lines, no running water, electricity is produced by solar panels on top of the huts, and the Sudanese people can be heard singing and drumming in the distance as the sun sets.  Water is carried in buckets from the river, children die from diarrhea, men herd cattle, there is no school, no grocery store, no written language.  And this is where I long to return.  To bring help and hope, relief from suffering, acknowledgement of trauma, nutrition to a starving child, immunizations to prevent disease, and maybe even deliver a baby.

http://www.sudanproject.org/