[one hundred and] eighty degrees difference - Nate Herr (PL2 arrives in Kampala)

Posted on behalf of Nate Herr (PL2)

Leaving Minneapolis, I left behind a consistently cold winter. averaging temperatures in the single digits.  A day's worth of flying later, and a much more ambient temperature, greeted me in Kampala.  As it's in the 70s and 80s here. Gone are the snow banks and drifting snow, replaced by red dirt and dust that coats most everything and keeps a layer of haze across the skyline.

Warm temperatures and dusty red roads weren't the only thing to greet me.  What I found in Kampala was group of collaborators from Uganda and the University of Minnesota who are working here to answer the unanswered questions of some of the most aggressive and common infectious diseases here; from cryptococcal meningitis to severe malaria. Some have been here for months, others a few years or their entire life.  As the newcomer to the team, here only for a week now, I look forward to taking it all in and helping where I can.