Hello friends and family of Angel and Erik. This is Jennifer. I am taking over the Oberswans blog today so I can share with you some tales of Gary and my visit to Tanzania this past week. First of all, let me tell you how impressed we were with everything that Angel and Erik are doing. You already know them, so you know all about their hidden talents. Some of the things that most impressed us were the language skills that both Erik and Angel have acquired in such a short period of time. Possibly the single most amazing thing we [View Full Entry]

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OK - I'm back. I accidentally hit publish instead of save on that last post - so I'm sorry about the errors. I couldn't figure out how to go back and edit. Anyway, I want to share some pictures with you of our mini 24-hour safari just outside Dar es Salaam at the Saadani Safari Lodge which is located inside the newly designated national park. We had a wonderful time with Coenrad our host, Mary our hostess and John our Safari driver. Our tents were located right on the beach of the Indian Ocean and the atmosphere of the lodge is [View Full Entry]

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Nyumbani* sweet nyumbani.... We made it back to the salty coast of Tanzania last Friday night and set out immediately afterwards for the music festival in Zanzibar (complicated little island just off the coast) that had started Thursday. Kidude was playing and she is a legend here. Approximately 87 years old, but no one can be sure, including her, with an amazing voice. She was the star of the whole event and the main reason we went straight there. It is now Tuesday, we're back on the mainland and we still havent heard her! I'll tell you why... It all started [View Full Entry]

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We've been here in Kigoma for nearly a month and we love it. The breeze off of Lake Tanganyika spares us in a way that the soupy heat in Dar es Salaam does not. DSM in December is infamous for the thickness and the unforgiving heat. Also, the rampant destruction of the trees and the wildlife in all parts of that city, leaves all your walking and moving around the area exposed to the strong heat of day. Kigoma is lovely! We will leave here next Monday to stop in Tabora for one week to conduct our project with some club [View Full Entry]

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So, we have failed at keeping you up to date on our goings on. Our apologies. As we mentioned before: It's not so easy to get this done. We do miss the DSL connectedness sometimes of our old place in Queens! On January 8, 2007, we met at the Kigoma Office boat launch at 8:00 am. All 10 of us - 3 kids from the Lugufu Refugee Camp Region, 2 kids from Kigoma town, 1 chaperone for the Lugufu kids, 2 R&S staff members, and the 4 R$S vollies (us included) - waited til about 9:00 am or so to push [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, Yes, we have been here a whole month and most of you have no idea what is going on with us... Our apologies. Frankly, I dont really believe that this blog will work out and that any of you will actually read this entry. Internet is paltry (my word of the day - incidentally) and when we have it, it is not reliable. So, believe me that I have written paragraphs and paragraphs already only to be thwarted by the crash of technology either of my computer/battery or of the electricity here. Dar es Salaam is in the midst [View Full Entry]

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My first hours in Africa We arrived from London this morning. We slept so well the previous night at CB's place that we weren’t tired at all on the plane last night. We were giddy. And completely alert for the entire 10 and a half hour flight to Dar Es Salaam. The sun came up at 630 am illuminating the top of a blanket of clouds stretched into the horizon. I’ve seen clouds before. Lots of them. Flown since I was 4 months old all over the Americas and Europe, and once in Asia, and this had a different feel to [View Full Entry]

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