Christmas Eve Update

This morning we went up to the school. It wasn't a normal school day, but the neighbourhood knew that we would be visiting. There are normally about 130 students, this morning there were 245 people at the school. They all got a piece of bread, a glass of juice, the youngest ones got some sorghum and they all got a candy. They were all incredibly happy, it was as if we had given them the best Christmas present ever. What an amazing way to spend Christmas.

Merry Christmas From Rwanda

I really do lose track of time on the road. I got back to Rwanda a few days ago after spending 12 amazing days in Uganda. What a beautiful country, I will go back there again one day to see more of it. After rafting and a few days in Jinja, I headed back to the capital city of Kampala. That is one crazy city. In the downtown core, you can barely move for taxis, buses and people. You have to literally push your way through. Funny thing is people here don't expect 'Mzungus' (white people) to be pushy but sometimes you have no choice. I intended to visit Murchinson falls in the north, but it was a long drive and was going to be costly, so I ended up heading south to Lake Bunyonyi. This was better because I had to head south for Rwanda anyway. Lake Bunyonyi was stunning, I got dropped at the dock and then had to get a ride in a dugout canoe to where I was staying. It was on a tiny island called Itambira Island in the middle of the lake. I met up with a great group of people, an Australian, British, American, Russian and two more Canadians. We had a great time playing cards, even late into the night when the solar power ran out and we played by candle light. Getting from Lake Bunyonyi back to Ruhengeri was a bit of a feat despite the relatively short distance. First there was a boat to the mainland, then a mini bus to Kabale, a 80km car ride with 7 people (four in the back seat... not comfortable) over very bad roads to a Kisoro, a motorcycle ride to the Rwanda border, and finally another motorcyle to Ruhengeri.... whew... I was tired and dirty.

It's hard to believe that today is Christmas Eve. It really doesn't feel the same here. People celebrate with a meal with their families. We have a lamb for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. It's getting 'prepared' today. I did get in the mood a bit last night wrapping gifts for the people I'm spending Christmas with. No colourful paper here though, it was all wrapped in old newspapers. I wish you all an amazing Christmas with your families.

Rafting the Nile

I traveled to Uganda on December 10. It was a ten hour bus ride from Kigali (Rwanda) to Kampala in Uganda. My Ugandan friend Jonathan was there to pick me up from the bus, its always nice to enter a new city with a familiar face. I stayed with him and his girlfriend that night. On Wednesday I made my way east to the small town of Jinga. It's about 80 km from Kampala and famous for it white water rafting. I stayed at a great hostel in Jinga called the Nile River Explorers, they also have a place about 8km from Jinga. I transferred to the place outside of town the next day. The setting was amazing. It was on the banks of the Nile. The restaurant and hang out place was on a huge deck with priceless views.

On Dec. 12 I went rafting. There was a short orientation on land and then more in the water, including flipping the boat and getting back in. Rapids are graded from 1 - 6, rapids that are rated a six are usually only done by kayaks and not rafts. We did a series of 1 - 5. The first few rapids were pretty tame, but even those are a bit tricky sometimes. There was one five called Overtime. We got stuck in the middle on a rock, we got to look over the edge of a eight foot drop before we went down. There were a few anxious seconds. Here is a picture of Overtime, I can't take credit, I found them on Google Images.


The Last rapid of the day was called 'A Bad Place', and with good reason. The first part of the rapid was graded a six, so we had to walk around that part and get into the Bad Place half way down. It was no less wild looking. We had a few girls in our boat, they opted to leave our boat because we wanted to take the 'hard line' down. We ended up with six people. We got part way down when our raft literally stopped on what is affectionately know as a 'washing machine'. We were kind of surfing a wave and not moving, meanwhile we were getting battered. It was kind of what I imagine its like to ride a mechanical bull. Four of the guys got tossed from the boat right away including the guide, with only me and another guy left. We still weren't going anywhere, so I decided that I had to dive into a grade five rapid. I was tossed around like a rag doll and got quickly shot down the rapids. There were safety kayaks all around, so one of them came and got me.
This is the 'Bad Place"


It was an amazing day, so much fun and its very cool to say that I've rafted on the Nile. There were some flat places in between the rapids, we often got out of the boat and swam for those. The water was very warm and it was exceptionally hot for parts of the day, so the water felt great. The guide joked with us earlier that all the crocodiles in this area were vegetarian. There were six people on the boat, three of which were Canadian. Dominic from Toronto and Kevin from Brandon, Manitoba. We ended up staying at the hostel and hanging out for a few day and also returned to Kampala together. Its always fun to bump into a few Canadians on the road.

You tube video

I'm not sure if this will work or not, my connections here in Rwanda are much too slow to ever watch at video. This is a link of a video taken by an American guy that was with me on the gorilla trek. It shows two gorillas running towards us, giving us quite the start. If it works for anyone, let me know how it looks. Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSrhc814Bik

My 'Less Hairy' Friends

William and Kevin showing off their 'Rasta' hats.

At the end of every morning all the kids get together and sing and dance, ending with the Rwanda National Anthem.

Just experiementing with a few settings on my camera.



They call this kid Budda, I thought it was so cute that he had a Canadian Jersey on, so of course I had to get a picture with him.

This is the group that went to Butari last weekend. Cathy on the right is the lady from Maple Ridge that started the school. Kathy on the left is an American Volunteer.

My Hairy Friends

Here are a few gorilla pictures. Enjoy

Museum, university and gorillas

It has been another great week in Rwanda.

I left last Sunday and took a bus with a group to Butari. The group mostly was of young guys, most in their last years of high school and my friend Cathy and another American volunteer. We had a great time. We visited the National Museum and also the University of Rwanda. Some of the guys hope to be attending there in a few years. It was nice to see another part of the country.

I'm heading to Kampala this coming weekend. I'll be spending about two weeks in Uganda, I'm hoping to do some white water rafting on the Nile. That sounds so cool... rafting on the Nile. I'll be heading back to Rwanda to spend Christmas with friends before heading to Mumbai, India on January 7.

This morning was certainly a highlight since I've arrived here in this country. I got to go treking in Volcanoes National Park to visit the Silverback Mountain Gorilla. It was an amazing experience. I got very muddy and stung by stinging nettle, but it was all worth it to spend a full hour visiting the Amororow family of gorillas. We just stood off to the side and they slept, groomed each other, the kids played and the teenagers were a bit rowdy. There was one time at the end of the hour when the teens were screeming at each other and they came running towards our group, the guide said in a very quite voice, 'don't move or run'. When two gorillas are running towards you with teeth bared, it is hard to stay still. We all managed to though, I think some in the group might have needed a change of underwear after. If ever you are in Rwanda it is worth the money.

Pictures

The pictures are in no particular order, the uploading went a bit 'sideways'. Enjoy.




Food time is always a fun time for the children. Hardy bread and milk with sorghum.


Today was the day to give out goats to needy families. We gave away ten goats. (opps I just noticed that one of the goats is peeing in the picture)

In the past few months there has been a number of babies 'found' by the road side. This is one, he was very little. Fortunately a number of people have come forward to take them into their families. The school supports them with food and soap.

Ruhengeri has 100's of these bicycle taxi. We usually take them home from school every day. I think its about 8-10km ride and it cost 200 Francs. That's about 40 cents. They work very hard.


This is supposed to be a rest time, as you can see there is little rest happening here.


The kids are just amazing at the school. They are full of fun and always want to hold the hand of the white man.

This is one of the partially completed classrooms, Cathy is still raising funds to put a roof on the school. So, if you have a few thousand hanging around, it will get some children out of the rain.

My first African protest with my new friends Manwell, Kevin and Pacifique.
Arriving at the Rwanda border after a long journey.

Rwanda Continued

I went to my first African "protest" yesterday. The whole town marched in support of "Rose". She is a Rwandan politician that went to Europe and was promptly arrested for her supposed role in the 1994 genocide. Specifically she was arrested for shooting down the then president's plane. Rwandans say that she had nothing to do with this and is totally innocent. So, yesterday I had my 'FREE ROSE' banner on and marched with several thousand people. It was quite the experience. I went with my friend Cathy who lives here, she thought it was completely appropriate that I show support. There was also an American visitor that marched with us. We got a lot of attention. We were talked about on the radio and pictures were taken for the press. While travelling in most African countries you would run a mile to get away from such an event, but somehow it seemed different here. It was all very peaceful.

I've been spending my mornings at a pre-school that was started by Cathy. She is from B.C. and is married to a Rwandan. She is an amazing lady, the things that she has accomplished in her short time here is remarkable. The pre-school has about 130 children, ranging in age from 2-6. Cathy is also involved with other areas of education and community initiatives. Of the 130 Children, only the youngest get bread and milk enriched with sorghum. It would be great if she had the resources to feed all the children at her school. I am hoping that the Silokwethemba Project (www.silokwethemb.org) might be able to assist her in that. We will see what happens.

The school itself runs mostly outside. There is a school building being built, but still waiting for a roof. Cathy also provides some medical support for all the student's bumps, brusises and cuts, the occasional parent also shows up for medical support. Its an 'all-purpose' kind of school.

Rwanda has had a tragic history in the past 20 years. Its very complicated with many different parties involved. Here is what Wikipedia says....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwanda_genocide

The Long and Winding Road to........ Ruhengeri, Rwanda

It has been an interesting week. I left Arusha, Tanzania last Thursday making my way to Rwanda. Arusha and Kigali (capital of Rwanda) are relatively close, maybe 500-600 km 'as the crow flies'. Roads in western Tanzania are few and far between. So my journey began last Thursday with a 20 hour bus ride via Nairobi, Kenya. That brought me to the town of Mwanza on Lake Victoria, back in Tanzania. I arrived there on Friday. Mwanza is a nice town. I hoped to catch a bus to Benaco on Saturday, but none were available, so I spend an extra day in Mwanza and caught a bus to Benaco on Sunday. Benaco is the nearest border town in Tanzania to the Rwandan border. The bus ride from Mwanza was in itself an adventure. We had to take a short ferry ride across part of the lake, it was over very rough roads and my window kept opening. By the time I got to Benaco I was filthy, absolutely covered in dirt. I met up with two Swedish guys on the bus that were also going to Kigali, so we shared a taxi from Benaco to the Rwanda border. It costs us about $2 each. Immigration went very smoothly. African 'business men' can see a 'muzungu' "Swaili for white man" coming a mile away. We were approached by several people on the Rwandan side wanting to take us the 150 km to Kigali. We settled on a mini bus that said he would get us there in 3 hours. Almost six hours later we arrived in Kigali. Needless to say I was tired, also dirty and hungry. My new friends and I found a hotel and went for dinner. Funny thing is one of them was complaining that he didn't get to celebrate his birthday on the day before, also my birthday. So, we had a birthday dinner. I was getting closer and closer to Ruhengeri, which was my final destination in Rwanda. I said goodbye to the Swedes and headed to the bus station... again. This bus was great, it was a short two hour ride. So, after about 28 hours on a bus, a boat ride, two days stranded in Mwanza, a taxi ride, a 6 hour minibus ride, another night in Kigali and a final two hour bus ride.... I MADE IT. I get to live here for the next three or four weeks.

Rwanda is a stunningly beautiful country, first impressions are very good.

Seregenti continued....

Just a few more pictures from the Serengeti. Sorry for the little ones again.

I will have a whole new appreciation for the 'Lion King", Did you know that Simba is Swahili for Lion?

The Serengeti has 1000's of wildebeast. They migrate from parts of the Serengeti to the Maasi Mara in Kenya. They are constantly in search of grazing land and water. We got to see a part of this migration. There were wildebeast as far as the eye could see. It really was amazing.

Serengeti Safari

Finally I get to upload a few pictures, its costing $5 US a hour, which is about five times the normal amount, but its all good.....




Stone Town, Zanzibar


Paje, Eastern side of Zanzibar.
This place was out of my budget, but as you can see the view was well worth the $25 a night

Steps of a Mosque, there are many in Stone Town, one was directly across from where I stayed. Every moring the call to prayers was at 5:00, it was like the loud speaker was in my room.

One of the many alleys

Seregenti Safari

I couldn't resist this picture. Notice the background.....

What an exciting few days. After much negotiation with many safari companies in Moshi, I settled on one. I just got back to Arusha yesterday. I spent four days, three nights on safari at Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti. It was an amazing four days. I think the highlight was all the big cats, lots of lions, a few leopards and cheetahs.

The first day in the Seregenti we drove all day through just a portion of the park. The park itself is over 14,000 sq. km. It's huge. We stopped for the day at around 7:00. The camp ground where we put our tent was in the middle of the park. NO FENCES. During the night I could hear animals all around. The situation was so unreal, it didn't bother me that much and I actually slept. The next morning when we left camp, we were less than a km when we came upon two huge lions on the side of the road. The next night we spent on the 'rim' of the Ngorogoro crater, again lots of animals in the area. We could see buffalo and elephants from our site. The view out over the crater was amazing. The elevation of the rim is about 2400 metres. During breakfast the next morning the cook told us that an elephant has wrecked a tent the night before, fortunately there was no one in it. It was probably a good thing that I didn't know that the night before.

I will try to upload a few more picture in another post.

I am Canadian

Today I went to search for a new book. I just finished reading 'What is the What', it's about the Lost Boys of Sudan. Amazing read. I went to the library, asking where I can find a book store, the lady misunderstood and looked at me rather surprisingly and said in her broken English, 'we don't sell our books'. She pointed me up the street to a nearby store. It was more like a news stand, but the seller said he had many 'good' books inside. I thought I would take a look. He had one John Grisham book and one by another author and about ten German books. He was rather dismayed and a bit surprised to learn that I didn't read German.

I have been asked many times if I am American. For many Tanzanians anything in the west is American, that is partly true for many areas in Africa actually. Once they find out that I am Canadian, without fail the next question is..... Toronto?

I never did find a new book.

In the shadow of Kilimanjaro

Internet here can drive you absolutely crazy. I booked one hour to write on this blog, I now have 12 minutes left. I am just now getting on.

My two days on the eastern side of the island were amazing. I stayed in a small town called Paje. Cheap accommodation was impossible to find, so I had to cave in and pay $25 a night for a place on the beach. I know you're thinking, that's still pretty cheap but for the past month I had been paying $10 a night. It was worth it to stay on this beautiful beach. I met a great group of people there. We all ate and chatted late into the night. American politics and the presidential election was on every ones mind it seems. Even though there was only one American in the group.

I left Paje, Zanzibar two days ago. It was 48 hours of travel. Wednesday morning I got a ride to Stone Town from a great German couple I met at the hotel. I caught a late ferry, The Flying Horse to Dar es Salaam, it left at ten at night, getting me into Dar at 6:00 on Thursday morning. The trip itself didn't take that long, they anchor somewhere just off Zanzibar and spend the night. Ferry operators think it is too dangerous for people to show up in Dar in the middle of the night, so they delay the arrival until 6:00 am. Once in Dar I got a taxi to the Scandinavian Bus depot to catch a ride to Moshi. The bus was a 'luxury' bus, I use the term luxury loosely. The ride took ten hours and for a large portion of the trip there was a 'mixed cd' on the stereo, playing Micheal Bolton, Air Supply, Kenny Rogers and Celine Dion. It was on repeat for many hours. At some point in time it became a part of the noise.

Walking around Moshi was interesting. It was as if I had a t-shirt on saying, "I want to go on Safari". I was approached at least 15 times in the first hour on the street. The funny thing is I am looking for a safari. I guess they could tell by the look in my eyes. I have a few prospects for trips leaving in the next few days to the Serengeti. I have to decide today.

Moshi is the place that people come to if they want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I had an interesting chat a few days ago with a Tanzanian about climbing Kilimanjaro, he said no Tanzanian would ever think about climbing it unless you were a guide. They think the foreigners are crazy to want to do it. I have to admit, crazy or not, if it wasn't so expensive and if I was prepared, I would definitely think about it.

Its pouring raining today here in Moshi.

I have had great intentions with posting pictures on here. I've tried about 5-6 times in different internet cafes, none of them have a connection fast enough to upload them. It will have to wait.

It's not the heat, it's the the humidity......

I arrived in Tanzania on Wednesday from Johannesburg. I could feel the humidity immediately after stepping off the plane. I landed in Dar es Salaam at about 9:00 on Wednesday, I was delayed leaving Johannesburg for over two hours.

It seems that you have to bargain for everything in Tanzania, I went outside the airport to get a taxi. The driver said that it was 25,000 schillings, about $20US, I said that was too much and immediately he cut it to 20,000. I was too tired to try to get him down any further. I stayed in "Dar" for just Thursday and left for Zanzibar on Friday. I was warned about 'touts' in everything I read about Tanzania. Touts are street people that are constantly trying to sell you something or to make a deal of some kind, most of which are suspect and sometimes illegal. All day Thursday I was constantly being bothered by touts. One wanted to be my 'guide', another wanted to take me to the ferry in his car even though it was only a km. So, I was happy to get to Zanzibar. There are still lots of touts but the charm of the place pays up for it. I use the term ' charm' loosely here. I'm staying in a hostel called the House of Abdulla, it is in the very historical Stone Town. Stone Town is a maze of alleys, streets that are about 7-8 feet wide. Only for people walking and mopeds. People hang out sitting in the alleys, chatting and socializing. Tomorrow I will get lost in the maze and try to find my way out. For people that know me and my sense of direction, ( or lack there of) I might be lost for a while.


Today I went on a tour of a spice farm, it was great. Seeing where all the spices that we use come from and smelling them. We also got to sample many different fruit. In the afternoon we spent about an hour at the beach, swimming in the Indian Ocean. It was beautiful.

I'm staying in Zanzibar for at least five more days. I'm heading to the eastern side of the island on Monday, then back to Dar on Wednesday before heading west to Moshi.

Kingdom of Swaziland

I feel like I should apologize for these tiny pictures. I tried uploading the 'medium' image and it was taking forever. These will have to do for now.

It has been a restful week after spending two weeks on the road, going from one hostel to another. I've been in Nelspruit for the last few days. Nelspruit is a city in northern South Africa, in Mpumalanga province. I spent two days this past week in Mbabane, the capital city of Swaziland. Swaziland is a kingdom with a king that rules that country. He has final say about everything that goes on. He appoints people to government positions. He has 13 wives. Every year there is a big cultural celebration called the 'Reed Dance'. All the eligible women from around the kingdom come and dance for the king. Then he chooses a wife. He doesn't pick one ever year and obviously someone caught his eye at least 13 of the past 22 years since his coronation. Swaziland is a beautiful country. When driving along you notice that the trees are very 'organized'. Apparently, Swaziland had one of the world's largest 'man-made' forest, covering over 7% of its total land area. That is a lot of trees and they are all in perfect lines.

Like most African cities, Mbabane (Swaziland) has a central area, where a lot of commerce happens. This picture is taken just outside of a mall. It is one busy place, it is also the taxi stand where literally hundreds of vans line up for different routes around the city. It is most often the only public transit in many cities.

This is the train car hostel that I stayed in a few weeks ago, you see the very colourful bunk-house just below.

These are beach huts in Cape Town. I thought the colours were cool.

Next week, I'm off to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, I'll likely be spending a few weeks in Tanzania before making my way to Rwanda and Uganda.

I expect to have regular internet access for most of the time now, so feel free to send emails.

Wild Coast

Another day... another city. I have been on the road for about 12 days now. Staying in most places for a day or two and sleeping in a different backpackers hostel every night with different roommates. So far I've shared rooms with people from Malayisa, Thailand, Reunion Island, France, England, Italy, Spain, Germany, and South Africa.... many very cool people.

The southern area of South Africa is amazing. The first part is called the Garden Route, it is very well developed. Much of the Garden Route is built up around tourism. Once you leave Port Elizabeth, you enter what is called 'The Wild Coast'. There are huge stretches of rolling hills and some very dramatic landscapes. I stayed for a few days at Coffee Bay, it is on the coast. Another surfer's paradise. My hostel was called the Coffee Shack. On the first day, it was full of young college students, it was just one big crazy party. The second day was much more chilled. The place is full of hippies. Young local people on the street and beach approach you offereing to sell you magic mushrooms and pot.

If anyone is thinking about going on a backpackers trip, South Africa is such an easy country to do it in. I've been travelling on the Baz Bus, its a 20 passenger bus that travels from one hostel to another. There is a very convenient book in all the hostels that list every backpackers in South Africa. I've been bumping into the same travellers now for over a week. It's kind of nice. I have yet to run into any Canadian travellers. Well, I did meet one couple of Canadians but they were teaching in Cape Town. Funny thing is she was a teacher from my school district in BC. What are the chances....

Today I go from Durban to a city in Swaziland, its about an 11 hour ride. I'm not looking forward to it, but I've been reading an amazing book called Tandia, set in South Africa during the Apartheid years. So, I'm sure the day will pass by quickly. On Saturday I will be meeting up with some Canadian friends in Neslpruit. That is in northern SA, near Kruger National Park.

South AFrica

It has been two weeks today since I left Zimbabwe. I spent the first week in Johannesburg and this week in Cape Town. It was so nice to be near the ocean again. I love Zimbabwe but I do miss the water. I'm a 'coastal boy'.

It has been an interesting time in South Africa. I've noticed more this time than my previous visits the preoccupation regarding race relations. Apartheid ended here in 1992, but some of the issues are still prevalent. There are still very few mixed race couples. Although I've stayed with two of them here in Cape Town, both Canadian wives with 'coloured' husbands. That word 'coloured' sounds somewhat inappropriate, but that is what they are called. Its a race of people that is not black or white. They are NOT a mixture, they are their own distinct race. I have wonderful friends here in Cape Town, although I didn't reallly know them too well before this visit. Now I feel like they are famliy.

Its seems like race enters into a lot of conversations and you hear about racial slurs that are made from one group towards another group. Its all very unsettling. BUT, South Africa has come a long way from when white and non-whites had different bathrooms, taxis, buses, the list goes on. I visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. It was quite a moving day. There is so much to learn.

Tonight I'm staying at a hostel in downtown Cape Town, I'm heading east tomorrow.

Friends

This is my friend Artwell, he was my 'card playing buddy'. He is one of the many exceptional nurses at Tshelanyemba Hospital

This is an amazing group of young people. Dr. Dawn Howse (front right) decided to put off a play for the yearly Salvation Army Congress. It was based on the book of Ruth from the bible. They practiced every day for weeks. It was performed outside in the evening. They did a great job.

This is my friend Anne, she came with me to Zimbabwe to assist in the Silokwethemba Projects. I think her month stay in Tshelanyemba had an impact on here that she won't soon forget. She plans to return next year. Thanks Anne.

The kid next to me is Jabulani, everyone calls him Jabu, he is one very cute kid. He is here with his friend.

This is the Senzeni Kids club. They are a group of local performers. The Silokwethemba Project bought them some fabric for their new costumes. They came to perform for me on my last week, they looked absolutely beautiful.

South Africa

I have to tell you about a trip I went on last week. It was with the weekly hospital trip that goes to town for business. It was in a 15 passenger van, we start the day at 5:30am. Atleast that is the intention, on that day it was well after 6:00 before we got started. The van would not start. Once we finally got going, the van was filled to capacity and more. We were supposed to leave town by 4:00pm, if anyone has ever been to Africa, you will know about 'Africa Time'. In other words, nothing EVER happens on time. I'm sure many of the Zimbabweans that I interact with think I'm rather preoccupied with time. Very few people here wear a watch, so showing up somewhere on time is unheard of. Anyway. Back to the trip. We finally left town at 6:30pm. The ride home was one event after another. I think we had about 19-20 people on the van, one of them had a live chicken. Then we stopped to pick up more people, there were two police officers hitch hiking, and in Zimbabwe you never pass by police officers. One of them had the worst body odour ever, it was absolutely overwheming. Fortunately she only rode about 30 minutes. We went a bit further and we saw a massive bush fire up ahead. The night sky was totally ablaze. No one seemed to be too worried, so we drove straight through it. There was fire on both side of us. It was just one of those days. We drove on, only to hit a small animal of some kind. I didn't even see it, but the driver insisted on going back to look for it in the dark. I asked why, his answer was, "We don't get much meat and that animal would make a good meal". We didn't find it, no meat for supper again. We made it home at 9:30pm.

Yesterday I left Zimbabwe. It was a day of mixed feelings. It's always sad when I leave Zimbabwe, it really does feel like my African Home. I went to a mall today, had a normal lunch with fries and went into stores with goods on the shelves. I have to say I was in a bit of shock. I'm staying with friends here in Johannesburg. I'll probably be here for a week.

Apparently some of you have been trying to leave comments. I've changed the settings on the blog, I think it will work now if you'd like to leave comments.

Hoping for Change

My time in Zimbabwe is down to its last week. It has been a challenging time. It's hard to recognize the desperation of people unless you live with them. Even that's not a fair comparison, I know I'm leaving here. It's been heartbreaking seeing people cling to hope for change. People are hungry, poor and unemployed. Can you think of a worse combination of circumstances? Zimbabwe made history this week, it's the first time in 28 years that President Mugabe has decided to share power. I was with about 100 people on Wednesday watching the news conference on TV of the signing of the power sharing agreement. People in the room were cheering, one older lady was weeping. For Zimbabweans, this is the hope of change that they have been waiting for. It's going to be a long road back to economic recovery for this country.

Last week I got to take part in a few surgical procedures. I use the term 'take part' rather loosely. I didn't cut anyone or even hold a retractor. I was the theatre 'runner.' I got to open sterile gloves, place needles and scalpel blades on the sterile table. I know it all sounds easy, but there is a particular process you have to go through to maintain a sterile environment. OK .... it wasn't a real important job, but someone had to do it and it was fun. The procedure was a c-section. Dawn asked me if I wanted to take the baby, I said 'NO WAY' ... it was all slick, imagine if I dropped it.

This will probably be my last blog from Zimbabwe. I appreciate all the emails of support.

Road Trials

I arrived in Francistown, Botswana yesterday. It was an eventful day. I was driving on the way to the border, and was going through a very rough patch in the road, and the truck just stopped. I thought first I stalled it. When I went to restart it, it was DEAD. In the vehicle was myself, Dawn, and three others. All of which are about as mechanically inclined as I am. We lifted the hood and fiddled with the battery and amazingly it started. We made it safely to Botswana. We are camping on the lawn of a big hotel, I know it sounds kind of funny but it happens here all the time. Once we set up our tents, I went to move the truck.. same problem. So, this time we got all serious about the problem, taking the contacts of the battery and cleaning them up with sticks. While reattaching them to the battery there were a few fire works, but we had a doctor and two nurses with us, so I'm sure someone could have resuscitated us if anything went wrong. Once again we fixed it. We were all puffed up, thinking we could handle just about anything. THEN we lost the keys to the truck. I was convinced I gave them to Dawn, she was convinced that I didn't. So, we looked everywhere. I climbed in through the back window of the truck just to see if they were in the truck. NO LUCK. We eventually found them in one of the camping bags, where Dawn had dropped them while putting something away. We were all very relieved. Then it was time to eat, when we realized that we had left all the camping utensils, plates, mugs in a crate back in Zimbabwe. So, it was 'finger food' all the way. WOW... what a bad first day.

I'll be leaving Zimbabwe on Sept. 24. I'm visiting with some friends in Johannesburg for a week then taking a train down to Cape Town. From there, I'm not sure, I think I'll just wander around the coast of South Africa all the way east to Durban. I'll likely spend about 4 weeks in SA before making my way to Tanzania.

It has been a great stay in Tshelanyemba, Zimbabwe, as it always is. Lots have happened. The situation in the country hasn't improved any. The government is now setting up stores where they will sell good using forex. Imagine going into a store and not being able to use the money from your own country to buy things. Seems ridiculous. The big problem is that the 'regular' Zimbabwe doesn't have any US dollars or South African Rand, so once again they are left out in the cold with nothing to eat or buy. They are resilient people that remain hopeful.

Money Matter

I have been without internet and phones for over two weeks now. The hospital is doing fewer trips into the city because of diesel shortages. I did get an opportunity to send e-mail last week from the local police station. I had to ride a bike that wasn’t functioning properly, it was stuck in one gear and the chain fell off. To top it all off the ride was often in sand. Have you ever tried to ride a street bike in sand, it isn’t easy. But I made the 8 km ride without any serious incident. The police men couldn’t have been more accommodating.

Money matters continues to be a huge struggle. The general hands at the hospital made 5 trillion this month, which sounds really good. The bus ride into town to get your money cost 3 trillion each way. It serves no purpose to save your money, because next week it will have drastically reduced in value. Also, the bank this week was limiting your withdrawal to 3 trillion each day, so you really couldn’t get enough out of the bank to pay your way to town. Many transactions are done in foreign currency, people work with the Rand from South Africa, Pula from Botswana, the Pound from the UK and the US dollar. Conversions from one to another and into the Zim dollar is boggling even for the most astute math mind. Just to add to the confusion people are preferring the old currency to the new currency, I guess you feel richer having 100 billion rather then $10. Even though they are valued the same.

The weather seems to be changing, although the official beginning of ‘spring’ isn’t until Sept. 21ish, temps in the middle of the day often hover around 30 and above, night temperatures still go down to around 14-15 degrees. My kind of ‘winter’.

Africa Border Crossing

I'm sure many of you have crossed borders between countries before, but until you've crossed an Africa bush crossing, you've missed out. When returning from Botswana, we went to a 'bush crossing', it really was in the middle of nowhere. Getting into Zimbabwe was easy but took forever. Both Anne and I had to buy visas again, so they made us wait about 20 minutes, so they could process everyone else. When we finally made it in there, we got our visas, by this time there were more people lined up behind us. So, he made us wait again to get our receipts. We were sent off to customs to make out our claims for goods that we were bringing in. On my claim, I had food and electrical listed. The customs agent asked me what electrical I had, I said a solar panel and some welding rods. His response was, 'what's a tourist doing with a solar panel and welding rods', it was a good question. Dawn Disney, the hospital Bursar was there to assist me in saying that I bought them for the hospital, which in itself is also 'illegal'. You're not supposed to purchase for other people. The Customs guy was great, he just jokingly said, "I caught you". Then we had to go back in line at Immigration to get our receipt. All of this took place in a little shack that was seperated by a door with a string across to differentiate between Customs and Immigration. The whole thing took about 90 minutes. I love traveling... African style.

My internet time is running out.... sorry if there are spelling mistakes........

How Many Zeros is that?

It looks like the only internet time I will get will be while I'm on the road. Today we are in Botswana buying supplies for the widows in the Tshelanyemba area, also stocking up on peanut butter for our project and buying hospital supplies. Francistown is a beautiful place. Botswana is a relatively stable prosperous place and compared to Zimbabwe it is booming.

I finished doing the school visits this past week, thats 35 schools in just over three weeks. That is a lot of gravel road, about 500 kms. I use the term 'road' pretty loosely here, many were just paths through the trees. I'm always amazed that people can find their way around in the bush. Our driver Reuben was amazing, he knew every short cut. The situation in all the schools is absolutely desperate. In many of the schools, there was one teacher looking after all the children, sometimes two or three hundred. Teachers would go to town and get stranded with no transportation back, many have left for South Africa and some just don't show up for work, because they don't get paid enough to live. Their wages are pretty meager, they make less than $40 US a month, just to give you some idea of the cost of thing, I bought a bunch of carrots in Bulawayo a few weeks ago and they were $2 US . Needless to say it is impossible to live on $40 a month. There are people that make a lot less than that, some of the general hands at the hospital make about $2 US a month.

Our process when going to schools... we would meet with the Headmaster when they were available (which was rare), then we would go over the school fees for this term, which was always in the billions. We had a set amount for primary schools and a different amount for secondary schools, when they were writing receipts for us, without fail,,, all would say, "Two trillion! How many zeros are there?".

When we were in Victoria Falls last week, we checked out the price of a cheese burger at the Wimpy, it was 1,300,000,000,000, thats trillions. We didn't have a burger......

The Zimbabwe Government has decided to chop ten zeros off their currency, so what was one trillion will now be 100 Zim dollars. This is to be done in the next three days, can you imagine changing your currency in less than a week. Technically they aren't changing their currency, even though they will come out with all new bills, people will have just a few days to get their old money in the bank.

Never a dull moment.

On The Road

Its been just over two weeks in Zimbabwe. Things are changing daily. I've been out doing school visits this past week, I've visited 26 schools with 9 more to go next week. The situation is the same for many schools, many of the Heatmasters have left since last year and in many cases the teachers have also gone. We visited several schools where there were over 300 students with just two teachers. Needless to say they have been very receptive to the donation that we left at the schools. We've paid school fees for 20 students in each primary school and for 25 students in the secondary schools. We also made a substantial donation to each school over and above the school fees. The headmasters were all very appreciative. I gave credit to the many caring Canadians and others that have supported the Silokwethemba Project.

My friend Anne is also visiting now from Vancouver. She leaves next week. If you are familiar with Zimbabwe, you know that you can't come here without a visit to Victoria Falls. So, we left Tshelanyemba yesterday at 5:30am and drove the 7 hours to Victoria Falls. We are staying at the Victoria Falls Backpackers Hostel, I've stayed here before. Its a great place. Six of us travelled here. We are off to visit the falls this afternoon.

All is well here, it appears that the politicians are talking to resolve the situation that has plagued Zimbabwe for the past few months. With regards to personal safety, we have no worries.

I'm heading to Francistown in Botswana next week. Hopefully I'll get another opportunity to update. Take care everyone.

Back in Africa

After days of travel, four flights, a 15 hour layover in London, a six-hour layover in Johannesburg and hours of sitting with a 'droopy' head, I have arrived in Tshelanyemba. Overall the trip was uneventful, even the Zim customs were relatively easy.

It's great to be back in Zimbabwe.

It was just over a year since I was last year. Things have gotten progressively worse since that time. The common sentiment is 'our country has collapsed'. People often mock their own currency and its fluctuations. The last time I was here we exchanged money at $28,000 to one USD, today it is changing at $50,000,000,000 to one USD. YES that is nine zeros as in 50 billion and rising. I am now a 'Trillionaire' and by weeks end maybe a Quadrillionaire. I changed $200 on the day I arrived and got 6 trillion dollars in bills of 50 billion. Prices change daily , and the stores are empty. Even if you have money there is nothing to buy.

I visited the local high school a few days ago to get some indication of school fees. The prices went from 3 billion on Wednesday to 150 billion on Friday. Parents are expected to pay the 'top up' so their children can stay in school. In an environment where there is 80% unemployment this is almost impossible. Life here is very hard. Despite all of this people will always greet you with a smile and welcome you to their country.

We are still without phones in Tshelanyemba, actually there are no phones within 50 km. E-mail will be sporadic at best. I am in Bulawayo today, so I can check email.

I know some of you are concerned about the political situation in Zimbabwe. It is on the minds of everyone here, all are wondering what the final outcome will be. Let me assure you all that we are safe in Tshelanyemba. We are not taking any chances.

I hope to update this blog at least once a week. Feel free to send email to maxwellvincent@hotmail.com

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has become my third home. This week my home is experiencing some unrest. There was an election there last Saturday, still no official results. Zimbabwe needs change.

I just purchased my first ticket, I leave for Africa on July 7. It feels strange buying a one-way ticket, I've never done this before. I generally like to have a plan. Not this time. Still trying to sort out my itinerary. I think I've added Uganda to my plan. I was inspired by my friend Pat who spent some time in Uganda, he has an amazing blog, if you're interested you can find it at: www.pmolon1.blogspot.com.

My Africa

My first trip to Africa was in February of 2000, this coming July will be my ninth visit. I say this not to boast about my travel experiences, but to tell you what an impact Africa has has on my life. I think from my first visit there in 2000, I felt the 'pull'.  I have a rewarding job here in Canada, but the rewards I feel there are different. To see the courage it takes for a person to live day by day, not knowing where tomorrow's food is coming from, or school fees for their children... it just has a very profound affect on you. Then to see these same people welcome you into their home and feed you, AND give you a gift before you leave, saying ' this is our culture', wow.... I can't even explain how it makes you feel. I'm not sure if I would be so kind given the situation. I'd like to say that I would be, but I'm not sure. 

While in Zimbabwe, I stay in a tiny rural village called Tshelanyemba. At the centre of this village is Tshelanyemba hospital. It offers health care to a population of about 35,000 people. It has one doctor and many amazing nurses. For some people living at a hospital would be depressing, I'm often uplifted by the many experiences I gain there. More than half of the patients in the hospital suffer from AIDS/HIV, or some related illness. Living in Canada, we are often so far removed from the whole issue of AIDS, its something we read about in a Maclean's magazine. I've been often overwhelmed and sometimes brought to tears to see the 'face' of an AIDS sufferer. I have a friend in Tshelanyemba, her name is Mavis. She was diagnosed with HIV in 1994. She has lost her husband and her 11 year old son to AIDS, if anyone had a reason to be bitter, it would be Mavis. This is not the case, she is a very strong determined woman, never shying away from telling people about her status. She made the very bold move of starting support groups for people living with AIDS/HIV. There is a huge stigma attached to you if you tell the community that you are HIV+, Mavis took the chance and it has had a very positive affect on many peoples lives. She really is an amazing woman.

Silokwethemba Team 2007

Here is my plan

I've just bought the first tickets, this will get me to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Got it from a very southern guy in Kansas, of all places. My plan is to be very flexible during my year of travel, only booking one country ahead. Most of my time in Africa will be spend traveling over land, so thats easier to plan (sorta). The flights on the other hand take a bit of planning. I hope to have a ticket booked from Kenya or Ethiopia to India over Christmas before I leave Canada. I know myself, and if I don't have a 'bit' of a schedule to keep, I'll get stuck in a place that I like. Which I guess isn't really a bad thing, but I want to see other countries. So, the Christmas flight to India will force me to move on. From January to June, most tickets will be booked on-line. Although I'll probably have to have at least one flight booked to the next city, many countries will not let you in if you don't have an onward ticket, so we'll see how that works out. A friend that has travelled a lot told me you can often 'talk' your way out of this. 

Here is the proposed itinerary

Planning

Some people say that half the fun in traveling is the planning. I am in the process now of putting together an itinerary for 12 months of travel. Needless to say, I am very excited about the prospects of the next year. I have four months before I start my journey in Zimbabwe. Hopefully, this will be the place where I can keep everyone updated on my plans. Once I get 'on the road', I hope to update here often.