Exciting updates!

Posted by Ali

The albino meetings went well, although sometimes I wondered what I was really contributing by sitting through all the sessions (especially the ones that included rapid-fire Swahili discussions by the albinos) but, on the whole, the experience was good for me; I definitely learned a lot.

So here's an update of what's going on with me. First, I have a roommate. Her name is Ann-Marie, she's from the U.K. and she's here for two weeks (or maybe two and a half weeks) to help out with projects for ADRA here. She does videography and had initially contacted Max to see if she could do some volunteer video work here. But it looks like there are challenges with videography, especially to do with the albinos, which is what she wanted to help out with. Anyway, for the next couple weeks she and I are going to be getting into some PR activities, probably mostly pertaining to the project that we just discussed in the meetings with the Tanzania Albino Society. So that should be interesting and definitely different than grant writing.

Secondly, Simon, the new grant writer, is getting here tomorrow! His work visa (and Danielle's, too) got here on Monday and so we scanned it and e-mailed it off to him and he is scheduled to get into Arusha sometime tomorrow. This is great, especially because Ann-Marie and I will be busy with some PR stuff before she has to leave the country for the next part of her African trip. Now that Simon will be here, he can take over a few of the grant writing duties that can't be neglected while I work with Annmarie.

Thirdly, I'm leaving on a safari tomorrow!! I'm sooo excited! (By the way, safari means trip in Swahili.) Last Sunday Danielle and Anika were talking to Darren when we were all hanging out in the living room of their apartment. Then they told me that they were thinking about going on a safari this weekend and asked if I wanted to come along. Of course I did, but I had to check and see if Max was fine with me missing the half-day of work on Friday. When I asked him he said it was OK and so I'm finally going to be able to see some real African animals!! Just a few weeks earlier Darren took a group of tourists who came here to help out with a Project Concern International project (which ADRA TZ is a part of) and went with the company we're going with. So he knew that it was a good company and was worth the cost. Actually, he talked with the company and got the price down by $60 for us and then this week Danielle got anther $20 off the price, so that's great. We are going to three National Parks in three days and since we're not Tanzanian residents we have to pay park fees, so a good amount of the cost covers that and is non-negotiable. But we're doing a camping safari and not saying at lodges and so that helped to keep the price down, too. So, as of 7:45 tomorrow morning I'll be off on a new Tanzanian adventure with Danielle, Anika and Kezia. I can't wait to see the animals that, so far in my life, I've only seen in zoos! Be looking for an exciting (hopefully) blog on Sunday night or sometime Monday! Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll write again when I return. :)