The next day we drove down into the crater which was an experience in itself, the road is a very narrow track with a sheer drop on one side. We then headed out along the crater floor along dusty bumpy roads looking for animals. Unlike the Serengeti the animals tended to be a lot further away from the road. We did see a rhino, but he was about 1/2 a kilometre away. I managed to get a half decent photo that lets you see that it was actually a rhino. The scenery around the crater was very spectacular. We saw two groups of lions, one was a mother with some young cubs, these were no more than 50 metres away on the edge of a streem. We also saw a large male sunning himself out on ... read more

Today we begin our break from work and head off on a safari organized by St Jude. Richard, Gemma’s husband, organises safaris for visitors to the school. We set out first thing in the morning in 3 vehicles and headed to the Serengeti which took all day just to get there. It was dusk by the time we arrived at the camp site. We saw a lot of animals on the way in and stopped at every one to have a closer look. We even saw a pair of young male lions snoozing on an anthill about 50 metre from the road. The camp site was in the middle of the bush. It had flushing squat toilets and a shower bag hanging up in a small room which you had to ladle water up into. But ... read more

Everyone spent the morning working on their specific projects. Just after lunch we went for a 5 minute bus ride down the road to visit a local orphanage. We took a large box of donated goods that St Jude had provided. The kids were all very well behaved and very affectionate. The orphanage appeared to be very well run, unlike many in Tanzania, where very little of the aid provided actually ends up being used on the kids. Several of the children at the orphanage go to St Judes The youngest was just two months and she was premature, the oldest was 13, who spent most of her time helping looking after the younger ones. The children were either orphans or had been abandoned shortly after birth. Of the more than 20 children, only one little ... read more

This morning we visited the United Nation Headquarters in Arusha. This was set up to put on trial all those who allegedly participating in genocide that took place in neighbouring Rwanda in 1994. An estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in the 1994 killings by Hutu extremists. The problem started when the president’s plane was shot down and the existing Hutu government blamed the Tutsis. The three months of slaughter ended after Tutsi exiles invaded and took over the government. There are 3 different buildings that make up the complex and it is heavily guarded. No cameras were allowed inside. We were taken on a short tour and watched a short video about the massacre. We then spoke to one of the officials, Alexandro, an Italian who has been there for years. ... read more

I woke up again at 6.30am, to another cloudy overcast morning. We had another big breakfast of cereal, toast, omelette and some sort of tasty sausages. I almost had several of the women convinced that they were wildebeest sausages. We started work again after breakfast and continued making and painting furniture and working on the books. By mid-afternoon we were getting low on paint so I went into town with Asher and Bruce to buy some more. The school is about 10 minutes out of town in the village of Moshono. The first half of the journey is on an horrendous gravel road which is more like driving over rocks than gravel. The vehicles can not go much faster than a brisk walk, more often than not we are passed by people on push bikes. The ... read more