Blogs from Africa - page 2740

This afternoon we visited St. Lucia, the first HIV/AIDS hospice opened in Tanzania. Originally it was founded as a family hospice center, but it operates more as an orphanage these days as there are only 2 adult women still alive, and just over 19 children. Much of the work done by St. Lucia is done through home visits into local communities. The organization is committed to people returning to their home villages and not living in at St. Lucia until their deaths. Only in the case of the orphans can they stay at St. Lucia long term. Many of the patient who come to St. Lucia have been ostracized by their villages and families because they do not fully understand HIV/AIDS. Until recently there has not even been a recognition that HIV/AIDS exists in this ... read more

It’s moving week for me here. Last Sunday I preached at the main service at the Cathedral, and the service was also broadcast on the radio by the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). I happened to use a coconut as one of my illustrations during the homily. Throughout this week people who were there or who listened on the radio have been coming up to tell me that they liked the coconut. Note to self: people are much more likely to remember the image you use than the words you say! On Monday, Bishop Santosh got back from his travels. There were two immediate impacts on me. The first was that all planning that had been done became tentative and to be confirmed by the Bishop. The second was that I had to move! I’ve been ... read more

Hi everyone, Sorry I've been so useless at updating this site but I only get internet access once a week and the connection is so slow I only just have time to check emails etc. So we've been in our camp in the village of Mvae for 2 weeks now. When I say village it's more of a large rural area. There is a small village centre consisting of a few mud hut shops...one of which doubles as a bar big enough for 4 people, I kid you not. Suz, Ed and myself tested it out after getting a bit lost on a walk the other day! Very bizarre experience sitting in the tiniest 'pub' in the world drinking beer mid-afternoon with one of the local schoolteachers on his lunchbreak while half the village peered in ... read more

Neither staff nor participants can quite believe the end of the expedition has come and it’s time to swap email addresses and say farewells before continuing journeys homeward-bound, across the country or to pastures new. It’s been a fantastic ten weeks - a roller-coaster ride of emotions, new friendships, different experiences and expanded comfort zones! We’ve built a school from scratch, designed and constructed three playgrounds, one as part of a new sensory trail for the site at REST, where we've also helped develop a new aviary, improved a range of facilities at Cape Cross Seal Reserve and trekked many, many kilometres through river beds and desert plains to the Skeleton Coast. We’ve made an impact on the lives of communities and wildlife across Namibia and have travelled the length and breadth of its long, ... read more

Hi All, What an amazing past few days!! We have seen and done soo much in the past week that it has blown us away!! We flew out of Adelaide to Perth where after almost a sleeplessness due to packing we wandered around Perth in a daze. We did however get to the Perth Mint where we saw gold being poured and numerous coins that have been minted for special events in Australia and around the world. We flew out of Perth at around midnight and landed in Jo'burg at 5am. Everything went smoothly until we got to the baggage collection and mark's didn't come out!! Apparently from Adelaide the bag went to some indian country and then had to be sent back and flown overnight to Jo'burg so mark basically had just the clothes on ... read more