Through a window darkly

Since starting this blog in 2006, I've made several attempts to offer glimpses into the lives of aid workers and the countries they work in, to varying degrees of success. When I started out, I had visions of long, colourful entries that really offered the flavour of these unique countries and the strange, surreal bubble that is the aid community in a war zone. Unfortunately, I've found that field missions usually involve a degree of mental exhaustion that makes such prose difficult to crank out, and by the time I'm back, the immediacy has faded somehow. I've often wished that I'd had some journalistic training, something that would allow me to master the fine art of jotting down thoughts that could be fleshed out later, when the brain (and the soul) had had a chance to recharge.

I was therefore delighted to come across this article from the New Yorker . Not only does it offer an excellent window onto the life of an aid worker, but the window happens to look out over Chad, a country I've been to on three separate occasions. The article is evocative and richly written; it's almost scary how it simultaneously takes me back and makes me feel so distant from that world.

I really encourage you to check it out.