Blogs from Africa - page 2767

url='/Videos/3445.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3445.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Dzaleka kidsurl='/Videos/3449.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3449.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Walking through Dzaleka camp market On Wednesday I was picked up near my house to head out to Dzaleka refugee camp, which is a little over an hour from Lilongwe. The proximity to a major urban center is something that makes Dzaleka unlike most refugee camps, which are usually very isolated. It is also a very established camp, which many of the refugees (most of which fled the Rwandan genocide and conflict in the Dem. Rep. of Congo) have lived in for many years—some over a decade. Mike later asked me whether it looked like what I had imagined a refugee camp to look like—yes and no. We are used to seeing images in the media of new, makeshift camps, for example... read more

Jonathan, my 13 year old son, chose the Seychelles for his recent school project. Here's his introduction to this amazing country: The Indian Ocean dominates the Seychelles whether we are talking about the immense drops in depth off the coast of the islands or merely the size of what seem to be little specks of islands compared to the big blue bed of water extending for thousands of miles. Very few people know about the Seychelles islands. I was among those people who had no particular idea where or even what was the Seychelles until a couple months ago when my dad announced that there would be a possibility of us going to live there for the summer to come. It was part of a student internship in Theology, as he hoped to later on ... read more

Yes that’s me in the picture with Vice-President Belmont of the Seychelles. We were two of the guests at the inauguration of the new high speed boat, the Cat Cocos II, which will run twice daily between Mahe and Praslin Islands. As part of the festivities, a selection of Seychellois high society was taken for a sunset cruise this evening around the north end of the island. How, you might ask, have I managed so quickly to infiltrate myself into the upper strata of Seychellois society a mere five days since my arrival? The answer is my not so secret weapon: the Rev. Christine Benoit, my supervisor for the internship, who was called upon to stand in for the Bishop and bless the Cat Cocos II before its launch. I, the Canadian seminarian, as I ... read more

By the time that we hit ground in Cape Town after a ten hour flight from Doha, Gene and I needed the next three days just to stabilize our blood pressure. We were delirious by the time that we arrived at the doorstep of our bed and breakfast - Twenty-Two - where we were greeted by our vivacious hosts, Allan and Dominic. Deducing that our British keepers for the next few days were a gay couple, I felt a sense of relief in knowing that we would receive the utmost hospitality and, more than likely, find our accommodations immaculately clean. As we crossed the threshold, I fell instantly in love with the contemporary furnishings of the home and the quick-wittedness of our hosts. Gene and I were in no hurry to venture out into unexplored territory ... read more

We are at our last stop on our tour and we are cold! We are in the Kalahari and although the sky is bright blue and the sun is shining it is only about 10 degrees. It was actually freezing last night. We are staying in a very nice bungalow on stilts that over looks the desert. The first night we were here we were the only people in the whole place! Tim claims he booked the whole place out as a treat! On our first afternoon we went on a cheetah feeding drive. They have 4 cheetahs that cannot be released into the wild for various reasons so they are kept here in a large enclosure. We got in a safari vehicle and were driven into the enclosure so they could be fed. They get ... read more