I flew into Al Geneina at about 1:30. The runway is a long, mostly flat dirt road with bits of broken planes down the side. Not the most encouraging thing to see, luckily I had already landed when I saw that. We were ushered off to the side while they loaded our bags into the back of a land rover type thing and drove them over the edge of the field where they were dropped at our feet. Heading out I was met right away by someone from WR and put the back of a little taxi with the WR representative. The drive to the compound was my first major eye-opener.
Along the way I saw: Donkeys, oxen, stray dogs, men riding horses with guns, goats, pickups with a gun mounted in the bed carrying 6 or more men with more guns, children playing with sticks, piles of bricks, piles of trash, lots of UN trucks and much more.
It was kind of overwhelming, then when I arrived I dove right into work in a room they had set up for me in the back. I think being overwhelmed mentally on top of the heat started to affect me and I got really sick. They sent me back to the “sultan house” (more about that in “Day 2″) to lay down. I slept for a couple of hours, got up and tried to be social for a bit, went back to bed, tried to sleep, did a lot of praying and wishing I was home.
All in all it was one of the most miserable days of my life. All day the only food I ate was a little goat meat and bread at about 2:00.
See “Day 2″ for the good news. 
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