Bill and Alex go in search of their ancestors

Well, we have not even left yet and already I may have a mutiny on my hands. It seems that Alex is upset that I did not use the above title for this blog instead of Banzhafrica. I had jokingly suggested we use the "ancestors" title--he liked it and did not think it was a joke. He is now threatening to set up a rival blog to compete with me. After short contemplation, I say "bring it". Healthy competition is a good thing. I bet he thinks his English degree from Duke puts him in the pole position. However, I will not go down easily. Perhaps I will amend the title of this blog in an effort to reconcile with the boy. Let me sleep on it.

This week I have received a bunch of emails from the guide of our tour containing information about the bombings in Uganda. In these messages he reassured us that we will be in very rural areas, and as such, not in a high risk situation. It prompted me to contemplate how time and experience can change the way we react to certain life events. In 2003, our original itinerary had us flying in and out of Nairobi. Several weeks before our trip, British Airways cancelled all London to Nairobi flights indefinitely due to information that Al Qaeda was planning to try to attack commercial aircraft at the Nairobi airport. Our guide re -routed us through Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania but Cathy and I were so shaken that we came very close to canceling the trip. Thankfully, we muscled up the courage to forge ahead because we went on to have an amazing trip. This time when I heard about the Ugandan bombings, I was completely unfazed. In fact, I think it is likely that we will be even safer as a result---Ugandan security will be on ultra high-alert.

I certainly have not become more brave. Its simply that I have had time to intellectualize how incredibly remote the chance of being harmed in a terrorist incident is. Remember the ever-so-recent failed car bomb in Times Square? That car was on the corner of 45th and Broadway. Do you know how many times I strolled by that exact corner this winter? About a zillion.

In the last ten years, Uganda and Rwanda have been amongst the safest places one could travel. More on why this is in upcoming posts. So fear not, our journey will definitely be going off as planned. Whether you will hear from Alex on this site or somewhere else remains to be seen!

Ciao

Bill