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Published: January 19th 2007
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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 off as lunch was a little late to arrive. We took advantage of the time to continue the play from the day before in the lawn. Though the games we more subdued and gorggy. No one had had coffee or tea yet and is was already hot in the morning. I wanted to nap!
We'd done the orientation to the program yesterday, Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm. Three kids from Lugufu Region - two from the camp and one from a small village outside - and three kids from the Kigoma town met with us to learn about
our project: Vision & Voice. Mlebinge and "Zebra" came from the camp and were Congoloese refugees, along with their chaperone, Lubunga. It was not their first time to town but it was their first time meeting Victor, Nema and Sharifu of Kigoma town. Our model has been to involve active R&S members where possible. We have a lot of reasons for this aspect. We'll explain later.
There was some talk of tension between refugees in the camps and the surrounding towns and Kigoma, so Erik and I thought that we'd deviate from the same course that we've gone for the other two regions we've worked in already and make it a group and sharing exercise. Instead of three kids only each with their own camera, taking pictures of their everyday lives, we thought we'd get six, pair them up and have these three group on a trip to the Gombe Stream National Park while Dr. Jane herself was in town. Erik worked it all out. I thought that it wasnt going to happen, but he pushed it through, got Jane excited about it and enlisted Tony to get it on the books.
In order to get here on
time, we needed to take the morning bus from Kigoma at 7:00am to Dodoma arrived 4:00pm (the actual, but not really functional capitol), then take the only train from Dodoma at 7:00pm to Kigoma, arriving the next day at 11:00pm. The whole ordeal took over 40 hours. This train ride was something we were told to do at least once and I don't think that I want to do it again... for a long long time. This may be while we are still here today, January 19th! The view of the country side heading west was amazing and heart wrenching. The children begging for plastic water bottles from the grassy banks of the train tracks near the small towns we passed through.
But we made it on time to Kigoma and Erik pulled it all together, with me not getting my hopes up at all.
And here we were, getting on the boat to Gombe Stream with Zebra, Mlebinge, Sharifu, Tadeo and Nema (Swahili for grace). (Victor didn't show for a reason we found out later that we couldn't have prevented or predicted. He is okay, though a bit disappointed that he could not come along.) The adults
in attendance besides the Oberswans were Shadrach, Augustino, and Dr Tony and our new Californian friends TJ and Alessandra - lifelong R&S members and super hard core about it!
We got to the camp two hours later, after witnessing about 40 or 50 baboons frolicking at the water's edge of Lake Tanganyika. They love the beach. We were looking forward to jumping in later, too.
We were lucky ones. A group of 30 or 40 chimpanzees had been spotted just down the beach from Jane's house and the guides wanted to get us over there to see them before they moved on. After a hustling and quiet 20 minute walk and then hike, we got up close with a young adult chimp just hanging out. Erik and I were in the group with the girls' pair. They were shy at first and then went a little loopy when they saw the mommies and the baby chimps playing in the branches - so did I.
Erik took over 200 photos - per usual - and I will try to upload some.
It was amazing. Whole families of sokwe - Chimpanzee in Swahili - just meandered on by
At home at Dr. A's
Me, Al, TJ and Francesca, up front. Erik is taking the pic and Cosimo is in the kitchen... Home after a looong day us as if we weren't there with their little ones scampering behind or perched on a mom's back. So close...
There was one point where the screaming and jumping and thumping scared me. Dr. Tony said they must be fighting over some leftover meat from yesterday or a female in heat. An interesting either or.
Walking through the forest you have to be very very quiet if you can. Now, when slipping and falling and skidding through the mud on your ass, you can make a little noise. At one point Erik motioned to me to come look at an adolescent learning how to balance and swing from a very high branch. At that moment, I was watching a mom groom her baby in the distance so I was slow to move. As soon as I moved an inch, there was a crash from above where a full grown male had leaped from his perch and onto a thin tall flexible tree and - like a pole vaulter going down wrong - brought himself and the tree down with a hard slap onto the mud path right between me and Erik, grunted and moved off.
The kids got some excited pictures of blurry trees and dark haired spots mixed in the green. Like me, they were overwhelmed and a little too hyped up to hold a camera still.
After our three hours in the forest, me and the girls were sweaty and desperate to jump in the lake. It's better than I remember even Lake George! Clear to the bottom 20 feet out and sooo refreshing. We sent the boys ahead and got in!
We got back to camp way after everyone else and way wetter!
Then we all visited Dr. Jane. Everyone had a chance to talk and of course, Jane had great stories.
It was lovely.
E+I and the CA's stayed at Gombe overnight after the kids headed back to Kigoma. We watched the sunset over the lake with Jane and Tony and had some whiskies and stories.
It was all like a dream.
I want to better explain it all, but we'll have to settle at this. It will be a miracle if this all gets on line as it is!
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Megwen
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Exploring suburbia back home
We, too, have had some truly amazing adventures back home. Just yesterday, we went to Target and found that the EXACT kind of deoderant we were looking for... was on SALE! Unbelievable. I mean, it's not every day that that happens. I meant to take a picture of it on the shelf with all the other things on sale (!), but as you can imagine I was too overwhelmed to get an in-focus shot. I can tell you, though, it was such an emotional rush that I was hot and sweaty, with my heart pounding, nearly delirious with the sheer emotional weight of it all... it's a good thing the puddles in the parking lot were all frozen over, or else I would have sent Andreas ahead and jumped in for a refreshing dip! I wish you could have been there. It might have been the Most Exciting thing that's happened to you All Month! Seriously. Ah well, YOUR loss... ;)