YES! YOU'VE FOUND IT!

Thanks for coming over to the new blog site, BoomerTrekker. You will see the last three posts that I made on my former blog, BoomerTraveler. For all future posts, I will use this site. I want to remind you to leave comments or offer suggestions. Just use the comments link at the bottom right corner of each post.

Sierra Leone: "Consider yourself on the team."

Well--I've been informed that I will be on the team going to Sierra Leone in December. Barring any major problems, it looks like I will be making the trip. I can now begin planning in ernest. Much to think about. I'll need to discover more details of day-to-day activities. What will I take along? What can I expect to be doing? How will I record the trip (for my purposes).

I've thought that this would make a good piece for public radio. I've toyed with the idea of talking with a local public radio producer to see what I would need to do to come back with the right kind of material. Of course, when they finally stop laughing and wipe the tears from their eyes, I might not be quite as enthusiastic. Hey--what does it hurt to ask.

Anyway, there is much to consider and much to do between now and then, including saving the $2800 I need to pay my way. One small benefit is that the money is paid to a 501(c)(3) foundation, so I will get a tax deduction as a result. If any of you have any thoughts about this project, I'd like to hear them.

Sierra Leone: The First Step

So I wrote a note to the list coordinator for the Sierra Leone trip and told her that I was interested in accompanying the group in December. Now I'm waiting to see if I can get on the list. It's sort of a first step and by no means guarantees that I have a spot in the group. Got my fingers crossed. But I have mentally committed to making the trip. I got pushed over the edge during a coffee chat with a friend at work. Both of us were talking about life accomplishments we wanted to achieve--she, an advanced degree, and me, my desire to combine travel with a humanitarian project. (The newly coined word for this is voluntourism.) By the time we were done talking, I was so revved up that I couldn't figure out why I was hesitating. So I stopped.

Well--now that I've decided to go, I thought I'd find out where I was going. A stop at a nearby Borders book store revealed that there are no travel books on Sierra Leone, which, upon reflection, made sense. Remember, this is the land of Blood Diamonds. The civil war there ended in 2002 (started in 1991), and the established government has slowly been putting the infrastructure and economy back together. It's still in abysmal shape, and the CIA Fact Book on Sierra Leone does not indicate tourism as a source of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In fact, the book store didn't have any books on this tiny west African country. So with the help of the patient customer service employee, I discovered a title of a book that looked like it would provide the background I need to enlighten myself. I didn't write down the title, so I can't tell you now, but I will eventually.

Sierra Leone is a poor country that is slightly smaller than South Carolina and has a population of a little over six million people. You can see its location on the map above. The official language is English (thanks to its history as an English colony), but Sierra Leonians speak at least three other major languages, depending on where in the country they live.

Inoculations and other precautions are necessary for this trip. Malaria is still common in Sierra Leone, as is Yellow Fever. Nasty stuff. So I've got some updating to do. I noticed during a recent physical that I'm due for a tetanus booster. I'll be getting current with all of that throughout the year.

The little community that our group would visit is Manonkoh. Look for the town of Makeni on the map above, sort of in the center. Manonkoh is south of that some distance and not shown on this map. It is there that this outreach group provides medical treatment, nutrition information, and health education to the local population. And it is there that the planned clinic will be built.

So the journey of a thousand miles has begun with the first step. (Actually, it's the journey of 5315 miles, which is the Great Circle distance between Minneapolis and Freetown, SL.) There you have it.

2008 Travel: Looking Forward

2008 brings with it commitment to two trips--one to Ft. Myers, Florida, in March, and another to Vancouver, British Columbia, in October, which is a new destination for me. The new year also brings a commitment to travel writing: I've enrolled in a travel writing class called Alternative Travel Writing with the intention of not only refreshing my reporting and feature-writing skills, but also producing at least one article from each of my planned trips. This is my year to publish!

I'm pumped about that!

Perhaps even more exciting is the possibility of traveling to Sierra Leone. While still a long shot, I am continuing to explore the opportunity. This would not be a leisure trip. I have gotten connected to a church outreach group that provides, and continues to develop, medical services to several remote villages in the interior of Sierra Leone. If I can find someway to make myself useful, I may be able to travel with one of the outreach teams headed for the west African country. The group is making trips in September and again in December. The mission for these two trips is to begin construction on a medical clinic. This, to me, is perfect material for what I think of as alternative travel. And, it would allow me to do something I've said I always wanted to do--give service to others less fortunate than I.

Wish me luck. I would love to venture into the Dark Continent.

And, as if that is not enough, 2008 also holds a couple of vicarious travel experiences for me. Two of my friends, both women, will be adding some great adventures to their travel dossiers.

One put her professional life on hold to fulfill one of her life's dreams: she has spent the last year in Peru studying Spanish and working with a nonprofit organization engaged in bringing medical assistance and life-skills training to some of the native people living along the Napo River in northern Peru. She will be returning in May after spending a year there. Although she lives in another part of the U.S., I am going to invite her to Minnesota to spend a couple of nights on the patio at our house so that I can quiz her about the trip and get a complete debriefing. Peru holds one of my Top Five Destinations To See Before I Die--of course, it's Machu Picchu.

The other plans to travel with her husband to New Zealand which, together with Australia, is also on my list of Top Five Destinations To See Before I Die. This young lady and her husband are adventurous types. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they plan to rent a couple of bikes and take off around New Zealand. Or, that they adopt the notion of vagabonding espoused by travel writer Rolf Potts (http://www.rolfpotts.com) and just take off for an extended walk-about. They're just the sorts of explorers who would do that. I need to have coffee with her soon to see just what she has planned for the New Zealand adventure.

So 2008 could easily become a busy travel year. I'd love it. I'm looking forward to it. I'll keep you posted on all of these topics as the days pass. Come back to this blog regularly; I will be updating it much more frequently this year. My primary travel writing goal this year is to have an article published. Now that I've got the goal, I need to develop a plan. More on that in the days to come. And more on the trips mentioned in this piece.