Hibernation now, harmattan later?

I am officially boycotting this wintry Nebraska day. Ten degrees out, up considerably from the 5 below when I ventured out to the gym this morning. Now I've decided this day can only be spent cocooning. Snuggled safely indoors, looking out ice-painted windows while reading of the dry harmattan heat of a Peace Corps life in Togo.

Krista, alternatively, has invited me down to Tucson for a hike in a 60-degree winter desert. Sounds lovely, but here is where I am, and here is not so bad.

More than likely, next year this time I'll be bemoaning the hot, dry season wherever I end up in Africa. So, much as I bitch about hating these Nebraska winters, today I am soaking up the good points while I can ... surrounded by afghans and books, pot of tea to hand, thinking chili for supper later and maybe even a starlight walk around the block just to shake my crazy life up a bit.

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So I'm comparing George Packer's PC experiences in Togo a quarter-century ago with Sarah Erdman's account of her PC service in Ghana in the late '90s. What's most depressing is that so little seems to have changed, development-wise, in the intervening years. Electricity and potable water far from the norm for the average village. Education only a nominal priority, and only involving memorization/repetition; comprehending the big picture is actually frowned upon. Any means of grasping one's way out of barely subsistence poverty constantly thwarted, whether by punishing climate or dictatorial government or jealous neighbors.

The haunting overall question, summoned by the stories I've read so far: Does the Peace Corps actually bring any concrete improvements? The next question, of course, has to be how one defines "improvement." These are the issues I'm preparing to grapple with ... on, now, to some new books on the AIDS crisis in Africa.

In related news, a new Lancet study suggests that funds earmarked for fighting the global AIDS crisis might be better spent on health basics such as malnutrition, family planning, clean water and malaria, which kill far more worldwide than AIDS. What's sad is that we think we have to choose which devastating health risks to battle.

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Hmm. The only flaw in my hibernation plan is my failure to have picked up a video or two. Watched "Il Postino" last night for the first time, and fell in love (again) with Pablo Neruda. Terribly sweet, romantic movie.

Quote of the day: "Poetry doesn't belong to those who wrote it, but to those who need it." -- from "Il Postino"

Currently reading: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, Pablo Neruda

Currently listening: Country for True Lovers, Eleni Mandell