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June 19 the love letterOver the last few days, I’ve written a couple of letters to my wonderful wife D, but I haven’t had the chance to send them, so they've been sitting on the table in my hotel. This evening when I returned to my room after work, I went to get out my computer and found – together with the two letters I had written – another letter, written in an unfamiliar script! Here are excerpts:
She goes on to suggest that she'll come to my room early tomorrow morning or that I can call her tonight at 8pm at a number she provides. I read the letter at 8:25pm and tried to call but couldn't get through!
This experience is all the more striking because it's happened before: in 2000, I was staying at the Joyland Lodge in Busia, Kenya, and the woman who washed my clothes slipped a similar note into my clean laundry (with no unwisely left love letters to provoke her). She also mentioned coming to see my country. I'm amazed by the earnest willingness of someone to consider a marriage based on nothing but a couple of letters (or in the previous case, not even that) and my perceived citizenship in a wealthy country. And yet, as I look around me, I shouldn't be amazed.
I've written a note that I hope is kind but clear and very apologetic for the confusion.
ps A note on today: it was a LONG day. I spent from 9am until 2:30pm in planning meetings at an HIV clinic, then spent the next four hours at a Ministry of Health workshop to launch the publication of a report based on a national HIV prevalence survey, then spent an hour or so hobnobbing at the post-launch cocktail party to try and meet important people to talk with about the work we’re doing.
The launch workshop was fascinating: it was a Who’s Who of HIV work in Uganda, from the Minister of Health to the heads of UNICEF and UNAIDS and USAID in Uganda, to members of myriad NGOs. We got to see all the politics and dynamics in full force, and a couple of insider friends were able to decode everything for us over dinner afterwards. Comments (3)
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