Yesterday, I felt like I was really in Africa, not because I saw wild animals on a high-end luxury Safari, but because I was witness to some of the suffering on this continent.

After filming local artists at the university, we went to the children’s cancer wing at Mulago Hospital. They didn’t allow visitors (except family members) inside the one room ward but the door was open and we could see the conditions inside. The children’s ward, contained in its own small building was dimly lit and full to capacity. There were two rows of cribs and one row of beds with just enough room to move around. Parents were sitting with their children who were either sleeping or crying as painful procedures were done right inside the ward. I saw the horrified looks on children’s faces as they watched these procedures being administered to others, knowing they soon would be next. It was heartbreaking to see children so sick and knowing there was little hope for their future.

The children who were well enough to go outside were sitting with their mother or father underneath the shade of a tree, too sick to do much more than quietly lay there on a blanket. Some were so thin they looked like fragile dolls. In Uganda, many of these ill children travel hundreds of miles from their villages, seeking medical attention, only to arrive and find out that not only is the cost of chemotherapy prohibitively expensive but the hospital provides nothing – not even food. So, many children are abandoned and die a slow death from starvation and the ravages of a cancer that literally multiplies at a daily pace.

This is what Letha Sandison witnessed when she first arrived in Uganda, accompanying her husband who is a doctor specializing in Malaria. She knew that most of the cancers that the children have are curable – if only they could get treatment and be nourished. After spending many months volunteering at the hospital, she decided to do something more to help. She formed the Wrap Up Africa foundation, which is a combination micro business, and philanthropic outreach. She trained family members of sick children to be tailors and sew garments made from indigenous materials, thus creating a sustainable model that not only gave the families the resources to pay for their child’s treatment but also at the same time give them a trade and the means to help themselves.

In the process, she has involved and employed local artists to make buttons for the garments and uses local mills to make the fabric used in the clothes. Her idea was to use local resources, rather than to import things from countries like China and India and at the same time create a sustainable business model that would bring income and hope to many in the process. She told me that it would have been easier to have just set up a cancer foundation and provide money for the treatments but her vision was to create something more than just a hand out.

The day before our visit to the hospital we went to Letha’s office where tailors were busy at work. When Letha entered the room, one young woman got down on her knees and said “Thank you for my little girl”. Letha explained that this young mother had a 5-year-old daughter who had a tumor on her kidney and was basically written off to die, but because her mother was able to pay for her chemo treatments, her daughter’s cancer went into remission and now the child is 6 years old and back in school. The mother continues to stay in Kampala with her daughter and sew for Letha so that her child can be monitored over the next few years and treated as necessary. Her village is too far away and the journey too lengthy and expensive to go back and forth, so like many others, they stay in Kampala, away from the rest of their families, hoping for the best.

I could see the look on Letha’s face when this young mother thanked her for giving her back her child and that was what kept her going. That is the reward that Letha receives and it far outweighs any monetary rewards that we all seem to get caught up in from time to time. And that is what motivates the people who choose to do what they can to make a positive difference.

Letha summed up living in Africa. She told me that living in Africa, you had strawberry days and onion days. The strawberry days are sweet and beautiful and fantastic and the onion days are days that make you cry and have layers of difficulty and hardship. There’s nothing easy about living in Africa, but the rewards are many.

After approximately 22 hours of travel, we finally arrived in Uganda! I refer to us as “mzungus” because that’s the word for white people/foreigners in Ugandan. We flew in last night, over miles of water and under a full moon. We had been traveling since 6am on Tuesday, and despite the lack of electricity at our hostel,

Sitting under our mosquito netting at Red Chilli Hideaway

we were so excited to crawl into bed. Especially a bed that was covered in mosquito netting.

We spent our first full day with our first subject, Letha Sandison, who took us around town to show us her daily hotspots. We went to the local university and toured the art department, which was surprisingly large and budding with students, despite the lack of job prospects for art students here – a problem that Letha is working to counteract by collaborating with local artists for her various projects with Wrap Up Africa. We got to meet some of these artists – Bruno, an incredible potter and painter, whose studio is filled with beautiful hand-painted vases; and Sega, a gifted metal craftsman who has made uniquely shaped bronze buttons for Letha’s clothing. Both were very welcoming, and we’ll be returning to their studios on Saturday to film them working on their crafts.

We also visited the office for Wrap Up Africa and met some of the staff members. With brightly colored walls and rooms full of smiling tailors, it certainly was a lovely place to be. We’ll be spending most of the day there tomorrow, interviewing Letha and other staff members,

Letha and Wrap Up Africa staff discussing dress designs

and filming them working on their textiles. I’m looking forward to talking more with the staff and hearing their stories.

I had some interesting animals sightings today. The first thing I saw when I walked out of our room this morning was a gigantic pig. I kid you not – it was huge and it was standing right outside our building. Later, at Letha’s house, we met her “house duck,” Donald, sitting on their coffee table – it really is a duck that mainly lives inside! And when we got back to the hostel, I saw a pack of baby goats grazing outside our window. And that’s just right outside the capital city! I can’t wait ‘til our “Big Five” safari, where we’re sure to see some amazing animals in the wild.

Some interesting facts I’ve learned today about Uganda:

• English is the national language in Uganda. Who knew! Although that doesn’t mean that absolutely everyone speaks it – there are dozens of tribal languages spoken as well, including Ugandan.
• Ugandans drive on the left side of the road. I guess it’s not that surprising it was a British commonwealth, but I didn’t know that either.
• There are at least three different ways in which the word “now” is used: “now” means sometime in the next few months, “right now” means sometime in the next few weeks, and “now now” means what we think of as “right now.” No wonder why Letha kept saying “now now!”

Tomorrow brings new adventures – I’m excited to learn more about Wrap Up Africa!

The day has finally come – we take off tomorrow. Our first stop is Entebbe, Uganda by way of Johannesburg, South Africa. We leave JFK on Tuesday morning, arrive in Entebbe on Wednesday night and have a meeting with Letha Sandison of Wrap Up Africa on Thursday morning. Nothing like getting right into but many times that’s the best way.

It’s been an incredible 6-7 months since the inception of this journey. I’ve ticketed 28 flights, 3 trains, booked, traded or mooched 99 nights of accommodations, obtained 6 visas (each) and gotten 13 vaccinations between us. I’ve also had to research, purchase and test some new gear because I’ll be shooting this documentary on an HDSLR system. A lot of learning and testing in the way of new equipment but the effort and expense is worth it because of it’s exceptional quality.

Most importantly, we researched dozens of potential subjects of our film, networking with people and friends all over the world. Ultimately, we will be interviewing and filming 10 different people on 5 continents. We will tackle North America upon our return. It was no easy task scheduling and coordinating our subjects’ schedules to mesh with the restrictions and schedules of the airlines because we are traveling on round-the-world award tickets.

Tomorrow we take off from JFK for an adventure unknown. The plans have been made and it feels good to finally do it. We will keep you all posted with words, photos and video along the way. There will be times when we’re off the grid through choice or circumstance, but keep checking in.

Till the next time.

These past few months I’ve been consumed by the details in preparing for this upcoming journey. So much too think about, both in regards to our day to day needs and logistics as well as the pre-production details for our documentary. I needed to book hotels for 99 nights, make airline reservations with over 14 different airlines from puddle jumpers in Nepal to trans Pacific flights, book train tickets in India, secure cure visas, get vaccinations and of course think about any personal needs. We’ve had to schedule all our subjects and research, buy and test all of our gear.

It’s been a challenge because we are doing it on a shoestring so to speak, using airline miles, hotel points, bartering services and roughing it – but I love a challenge. But when I sit down and collect my thoughts at the end of the day, I think about how fortunate I am to be able to take on such a project and how thankful I am to all of you who have been supportive and made it possible. Thanks to everyone for all your help and support.

I’m continually amazed at the power and reach of electronic communications. Orchestrating something like this just 10 years ago would have extremely difficult and time consuming as far as dealing with the logistics. But it also would not have been possible to “share” the experience virally and globally. We’ve been able to network with people around the world. People have been telling us about individuals who they know who are making a difference in the world – and in turn we are making others aware of people like this and the power of the individual. We hear from people all the time who are inspired by what they can do to make a difference.

Soon my daughter and I will be leaving the US for three months. Whenever I leave the country, I feel it is my opportunity to be an emissary for our country. It’s my opportunity when I meet people from other countries and cultures to show them what an American is – beyond the celebrity, pop culture and politics. I’ve always been conscious of my role as a diplomat when I travel overseas and the example that I set for my daughter in this regard. I think when Americans travel overseas we all have the opportunity to bring a more balanced perspective of what America is – beyond “TV network” point of view.

As the days dwindle down till our departure next Tuesday – my mind drifts from trepidation to glorious anticipation. But one thing is constant and that is that I feel extremely fortunate to be making this incredible opportunity and I thank all of you for giving me the support and confidence that I need.

I’m leaving Chicago a week from tomorrow, and we’re leaving the country a week from Tuesday! Time sure goes by fast, and I’m rapidly realizing just how much left I have to do. Here are just a few things that are on my mind/what I have to do:

1. Packing up my room/cleaning my apt/preparing for the subletter/signing a lease for next year
2. Buy some more travel-appropriate clothing (lightweight, quick-drying material)
3. Come up with questions for the subjects
4. Get some guide books (gotta figure out how to fill all of our “free time”!)
5. Get a haircut (long hair is not ideal for long-term travel)
6. Figure out how I’m going to fit everything in one bag

And there are plenty of other things, like mentally preparing for being away for 3 months. Luckily, Saturday is my last day of work so I have about a week to wrap things up.

An update on clothing and accessories – I’ve got the shoes, as I mentioned before. And my mom just got us both SCOTTEVEST Travel Vests, which are pretty much the coolest articles of clothing ever – they have 22 pockets, and can hold everything from a wallet to an iPad! These will be a great way to carry around lot of camera equipment and personal items and not have them count towards our baggage weight on planes.

Another exciting accessory – we both have Kindles! We realized that we had a dilemma – what do you do when you’ll be traveling for three months with a lot of down time for reading, but no room to pack a stack of heavy books? The Kindle is the perfect solution – not only can we each have up to 1500 books at a time on our devices, but we can download books when we’re abroad. And this will especially be helpful for guide books, as those books can sure be bulky and cumbersome to carry around. So we’re very excited to have these little devices with us.

More updates to come as we are literally counting down the days til our departure!

It’s so easy and necessary to get caught up in the details of planning this trip and what we’ll need to produce this documentary. But at the end of the day, when I start to wind down for the evening, my mind always turns to the subjects of our film and the purpose of this trip.

When I picture Erin and I in the midst of the experience – with the people, the cultures and different environments that will soon become our norm – I think about how rewarding this will be for both of us to be around such extraordinary people.

Erin grew up in an idyllic part of the world, surrounded by the beauty of nature yet in close proximity to New York City, one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Such beauty and convenience comes at a cost and living in an affluent community, I was always mindful to make sure that Erin knew that not all eight year olds in the world lived in huge houses and had elaborate birthday parties. We frequently took Erin with us on our travels to expose her to all ways of life.

One of our subjects, Maggie Doyne is from our small community. Erin and Maggie graduated high school together. Maggie in fact inspired our project. She opted to travel after getting out of high school instead of heading straight off to college. She ended up in Nepal and five years later she has built a children’s home and is now constructing a school. We started to learn about more people like Maggie who followed their passion to do good in the world. We wanted to shine a little light on these people who are making a positive difference in the world. Please read more about our subjects and visit their websites to read about the wonderful work they are doing.

Our hope is that by bringing awareness about people like this, we will inspire others to follow their dreams and passions to make change.