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Sarah and Jonathon - Sarah T Lucas and Jonathon J Kass

Sarah T Lucas and Jonathon J Kass

African Odyssey

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We're Sarah and Jonathon. We're exploring.

But we are exploring in a rather circuitous fashion, and the order of our blog postings is even more illogical.

So, if you are wondering where we are right now, the answer is....ooops....we're home! But we may post some final Africa blogs anyway.

As you look through where we have been, beware that we'll be posting out of order so the top post may not be the most recent. You can either scroll through to see what is new, or subscribe to get a message and link every time we post something new.

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Joined on: October 12th 2005
Last Login: November 10th 2007

Blog Entries: 46
Photos: 388
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Sarah and Jonathon, order by Date newest first.

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The Coronation
The Coronation
How to become a Muzungu African Queen Step 1. Buy five packs of Darling brand, Ghanaian style for hot water use hair extensions. Number 30 if you are going for something reddish. Number 27 if you p... [more]
I am a muzungu. A white chic. No doubt about it. But with five hours and fifty bucks, even a muzungu can become an African Queen. I took the plunge in Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast, just a day before leaving the continent. It took me until the 11th hour in Africa to get up the guts, so now I’m a Muzungu African Queen in China. Not a regular scene on the streets of Beijing, that’s for sure. But man, does it make you famous. I make just a moment’s stop to consult the map, buy a drink, or take in [View Full Entry]

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221 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 29th 2006 | 315 Views | [diary=91419]

The MAQ in the Bell Tower of Beijing
Checkin' out the MAQ
The MAQ and Mao

The walk to work
The walk to work
And then of course the whole work day is walking. Along hillsides and down narrow paths that wind between the tea plants. So enchanting to see, yet must be harder than it looks.
The sea of people surrounding us parted and a single man walked through. “Hello. I am Providence.” Providence indeed. The day was ending, light quickly escaping from the sky as it does here - day turns to night barely bothering to pass through dusk. The bumpy, dusty, windy, hilly and absolutely stunning road that skirts the eastern shore of Lake Kivu had spit us out on a stretch of tarmac seven hours after we started. We stood there, still vibrating just a bit from the ride on the back of UNHCR truck, with no real idea how to get where we [View Full Entry]

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832 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 12 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 21st 2006 | 337 Views | [diary=75876]

The long and winding wait
The commute
Cool pack

Purdy Paddle
Purdy Paddle
After exhaustive fluid dynamics tests, Lake Kivu paddler’s seem to have reached unanimous support for this lovely hand-carved paddle design.
Lake Kivu sits on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC). It is surrounded by deliciously green hills, every last inch of which is cultivated with sorghum, maize, beans, potatoes, tea, bananas, bananas, and more bananas. The soaring mountains of Volcanoes National Park, and their famous inhabitants, the mountain gorillas, watch over the lake from the north. Countless little villages dot the Rwandan shore, perched beside a hellacious dirt road running north to south (and zig zagging along the shore in every other direction imaginable). We had an incredibl [View Full Entry]

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707 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 9th 2006 | 487 Views | [diary=75877]

Bound for Market
Resting
The Pied Sarah

The Flip Flop Threshold
The Flip Flop Threshold
DRC traffic regulations dictate that when a wooden kick-scooter water load exceeds 80kg, the team of conductors must have at least one flip flop between them.
The first thing I noticed was the trash. We’d made our way into the Democratic Republic of Congo - past the cheery Rwandan border guards, the painfully indifferent Congolese border guards, the swarms of motor-bike taxis, and pushy guys who wanted to show us around. But we were determined to do this on our own, and our obstinacy led us right into the filthy center of town. The amount of trash was striking, especially compared from Rwanda, which lies literally just a few steps away. In Rwanda the first, second, and third things you notice are the bright green hills. And [View Full Entry]

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767 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 11 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 20th 2006 | 394 Views | [diary=75878]

Never should have opened those gates
Aaayyyeee!
These folks don't seem so bothered by the trash . . .

Muganero Genocide Memorial
Muganero Genocide Memorial
This memorial is a morbid reminder of how thousands were killed in Rwanda -- with bare hands wielding machetes or clubs studded with nails. There are tens of thousands of people buried here, many kill... [more]
Children have a space of their own here. The winding trio of rooms feels empty except for the ten floor-to-ceiling photos of individual children. Each photo is accompanied by a simple plaque with the child’s name, age, and a few details like favorite foods, best friend, character traits, last words, and cause of death - hacked with machete, smashed against the wall, clubbed with rifle butt, shot. The final room offers just one wall to look at. A wall on which are displayed -- quite simply, as if hung on the fridge or living room wall at home -- snapshots of [View Full Entry]

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723 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 20th 2006 | 271 Views | [diary=75880]

Rwanda's peaceful beauty
Fun with a few Rwandan kids of today
Isn't it just so lovely?

For those of you who are counting, you'll know that we have passed the 11 month mark on this journey. Eleven months of long bus rides, washboard roads, trickling showers, overflowing squat toilets, sagging beds, no place to cook, same two pairs of pants and three shirts, and . . . the wonderful luxury of "home". We would be back in the States by now were it not for a handful of phenomenal hosts who opened their comfortable homes, provided endless local cultural insights, and willingly tasted our experimental meals. Without these comfy homes away from home, we would not have [View Full Entry]

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359 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 27th 2006 | 338 Views | [diary=59348]

At the Scottish Ball with Catherine
Taking on Mt. Mulanje with Rushad
Laughing with the lovely Nadia

Hurray!
Hurray!
We reached the waterfall! Our "short" walk traversed the hills, crossed the villages, bushwhacked through the jungle, and finally got us here. Phew.
My mom defied her every instinct and flew a million miles around the world to see us in Africa. That’s not exactly fair, of course, because her instincts told her very strongly that she wanted to see us (preferably back in the US, but short of that, she’d settle for Africa). What made her hesitate were her instincts about endless hours of air travel, not to mention the backdrop of harrowing famine and stubborn poverty in East Africa. One thing you must know about my mom is that her heart is so good, and so real, and so connected to others [View Full Entry]

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429 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 31 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 29th 2006 | 305 Views | [diary=91425]

Before the decent
John in the Box
Mom on the farm

We took a little detour. It was kind of like going to another universe, but it was actually just over to West Africa. Going from Ethiopia to Ghana is like traveling to the moon. Everything is different. Faces, body types (and geez, let me tell you about the mens' bodies in Ghana!!), food, climate, sites, sounds, smells. All the tangible things are more different than you can imagine. But the intangibles are even more striking. Ethiopia is a proud nation. Proud of its ancient history, of its Christian legacy, of the Solomonic empire, of its architectural intrigue, of the diversity of [View Full Entry]

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734 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 20th 2006 | 222 Views | [diary=75881]

Ancient Ethiopia
Musical Burkina Faso
Sandy Mali

The Coordination Bookshelf
The Coordination Bookshelf
The poor person in charge of coordinating all donor activities within the Ministry of Health in this country has got quite a job on his hands. Thank goodness he's oganized!
So, many of you have asked about the work we are doing on our travels. Well here goes. (Hint: if you are not dazzled with aid policy banter, you might want to skip this entry...or just read the Jonathon's Summary.) Jonathon's Summary: A lot of rich countries are giving big money to these poor countries we're visiting. Managing all this money is creating some big problems as well as some big help. We're trying to learn more about it from the foreign aid workers, local government folks, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are trying to make it all work. We talk [View Full Entry]

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2847 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 15th 2006 | 335 Views | [diary=59347]

The Mumbo Jumbo of aid for HIV/AIDS
A close up of the bookshelf
HIPC Benefit

Enduring Orthodoxy
Enduring Orthodoxy
Inside one of Lalibela's rock-hewn churches, a priest displays the 12th century cross...for a fee.
Northern Ethiopia is all about living history -- mostly the ancient living history of Orthodox Christianity. We made a big bus loop through the north visiting all the main hitoric sites. The roads are horrific and the buses are hot, slow, and unreliable, but it is well worth the hassle. Here are some of the key stops. The Islands of Lake Tana Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile, and home of the most gargantuan pelicans you've ever seen. The lake is dotted with lush little island peaks, each one with its own ancient monastery. Most have been in [View Full Entry]

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1618 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 56 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 29th 2006 | 3328 Views | [diary=62145]

Lake Tana - Treasures of Gabriel Kibran
Gonder - Ten Commandments on the Move
Axum Stelae Field



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