Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tumeja! We have arrived.

Chris and I arrived on Thursday night and have been in the city since then. We missed our connecting flight in Zurich and had to stay in the city for a day. Things here are very different than the US. Food and medicine are super cheap, but books cost $40-50. Very backwards from the USA. The first whole day we had here, Chris accidentally drank some kerosene (it was put into an empty water bottle to be used while staining wood.) We had to take him to he hospital where he laid in a room on an IV drip for 1.5 hours, flushing the chemical out of his system. The whole hospital visit and everything cost about $30- at a nice hospital. He was back up on his feet the next day, so all is fine. Thank you for your prayers.

Yesterday we went on a Safari in Mikumi National Park. We saw elephants, baboons, starlings, giraffes, zebra, hippos, and water buffalo. It was pretty amazing. Our friend Noah was our guide; he is in school to become a Safar guide, but so far as I'm concerned, he already is. Instead of paying for a Safari truck, we took a taxi from Morogoro (about an hour from the park) and drove around in that- all five of us (Chris, Paul, Lee, Noah, and I) crammed in tight. It was so much fun.

In about an hour we are going out to the Shamba center. We spent the morning gathering supplies for building bunk beds and desks. We will be working on those for the next 9 days before Paul and Lee take their leave for the USA. The kids are very excited about me filming a drama that they have prepared. The kids are amazed at Chris' arm muscles and insist on arm-wrestling him, ten against one. It is a hilarious sight.

I'm out of time at the Internet Cafe, so no time to load pictures. Talk to you all later.

Love love love,
Scott

3 comments:

Dave said...

Thanks for the update and the email Scott. I guess "don't drink the water" has a whole new meaning now. Glad that Chris is okay. Enjoy and cherish each and every day there. We look forward to some pictures whenever you get the time. Love you lots and miss you more. Have fun. Dad

Anonymous said...

oh my goodness, chris. haha
thanks for the update..loove

Anonymous said...

Scott and Chris,
How goes?
Keeping you guys and Hananasif in prayer.
Mama Paul