So the day of changing scenery has come at last. People often ask me how long the journey from Sweden to Niger takes. Well, the flights themselves are not very long, but it’s going to take about 36 hours from leaving my sister’s apartment in Falkenberg before arriving in Zinder. The first flight is from Gothenburg to Amsterdam takes only 2½ hours, followed by a 6 hour long flight from Amsterdam to Kano (but it passes through Abuja first). The night is spent in Kano, and from there, the drive to Zinder takes five hours. Fortunately, it’s all pieced up with lots of opportunities to stretch one’s legs!

Although I intend to catch up on some much desired sleep, I hope it will also be an nice opportunity to read, something which has become more of a rare treat nowadays (I mostly only read books while on an official vacation or after recovering from an illness). While in town with a good friend yesterday, I bought the paperback version of Between Two Worlds: Escape From Tyranny : Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam and am looking forward to reading. If you’re wondering what its about, Amy Tiemann wrote the following review on Amazon:

After founding Women for Women International, an organziation that empowers women survivors of war to rebuild their lives after conflict, Zainab Salbi found the courage and voice to tell her own story of growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s control. Salbi’s family was trapped in Hussein’s inner circle through her father’s role as Saddam’s airplane pilot. Through her riveting narrative the reader comes to understand that no one in Iraq was safe from Saddam’s wrath and destructive appetites. Salbi’s searingly honest writing has helped her conquer a lifelong struggle to claim her own identity. Even years after founding WFWI, on a return trip to Iraq she could feel the old, despised label of being known as the “pilot’s daughter” clinging to her. With her work and now her writing, Zainab Salbi has shown the transformative power of shining an illuminating light of truth-telling into the dark corners of secrecy and fear. Weaving her family’s story with women’s history and Iraq’s political history, Salbi has created an emotional, beautifully-written, timely and relevant memoir.

I’m looking forward to reading it!