A Big Thank You and Hug...

to all my friends and family that have sent me comforting notes and good wishes. I am feeling much better. It has been 36 hours since I have had any symptoms. This correlates with my first opportunity to rest. I am back with Wendy and Phoebe. Yesterday I only got out of bed to eat! Really, I have not been able to rest since I started feeling sick two weeks ago. I stayed in today, as well. I wrote one article and a blog post that is being reviewed by my editor (Heather:)).

We hope to get more posted to the blog soon. There is so much we haven't shared. I have been too sick to write and Heather is dealing with the discomfort of relating our travels to folks back home. For me, that has always been difficult and depressing. It is easy to talk about poverty, to describe the conditions. You can tell people that in places you visited people had no money, no source of income, they barely get by, they live on dirt floors and they collect their water from ditches, but it is difficult to describe what it means to be poor. I am not saying that seeing poverty means you can describe what it means but you do see a more whole picture. I feel that when I describe my travels that what I am describing can easily be attached to images that have helped to desensitize people to the realness of it all. Then there is the culture shock. Coming home to a large house (relative), knowing clean water will come out of the tap and being able to afford to eat well. It is troubling to know that most people take basic necessities for granted, that is the feeling anyway. In reality the basics should be a human right. It is a hard line between being privileged and knowing you simply have access to basic human rights. Maybe, what I am talking about is the difference between being privileged and knowing you are privileged. Perhaps one creates complacency and the other instigates activism. Anyway, there is always a period after coming home that you ask yourself such questions and wonder how on earth can you talk to folks that are not going through the same process. For me this has always slipped me into a short period of depression. I know that many of you reading this can relate. It would be great to hear your impressions if you wish to share. Use the comments section. I hope all that makes sense and, certainly, I have not given a complete picture. It is hard to describe.