Preparing to go...

Drugs (of the immodium and laxative variety), recording equipment, more drugs and knickers probably take up most of the room in my luggage. As I precariously stand on the scales with it in my arms, realising I am still over the Ethiopian Airlines weight limit, I decide I can't possibly sift through it all again for the third time. Instead, I hope the check-in staff are understanding and let me through without charging extra.

So, with my flight leaving tomorrow followed by ten months in Liberia ahead of me, all I can think about is the role I will be undertaking for the organisation, Journalists for Human Rights.

• http://www.jhr.ca/en/

I am to be their multimedia trainer; training Liberian TV and radio journalists. My brief is also to freelance for Western media. I can't wait to get started but can't quite decide whether I'm filled with trepidation, excitement, or just plain fear. In two days time after flying through Addis Ababa, Lome, Accra and then finally to Monrovia, hopefully, I'll find out.