Safari!

Here are some of the pictures I took on Safari. I travelled to Akagera National Park on the boarder of Tanzania to see some more local wildlife. It was super exciting. I saw Giraffe, Zebra, Buffalo, Elephant, Hippo, Monkey and Baboons, to name a few. We also got the truck stuck in the mud for a good forty-five minutes. All in all it was a very eventful trip.

Bull Elephant

I snapped this picture just as this huge thing turned toward me because I was getting to close.

More Beasts!

Baboons!

These things are angry and ugly, but for some reason you still want to get close. I nearly got attacked by a larger one of these. Thankfully it stopped about four feet from me and didn’t try to bite. : )

Giraffe

Ooh, here’s a mother giraffe that I was able to get pretty close to.

Taking off the goggles…

It’s been good to spend an extended amount of time here. When being in an extremely different environment it takes awhile to become accustomed to the way of life and see past the initial differences.  I spent the first week, or maybe a bit longer, wide eyed as I gazed at spectacles that were all completely new or had only been viewed by me on the television. However, now I’ve become somewhat familiar with the way of life here. This opens up a new field of view beyond the spellbound amazement and surface shock. I am now able to go to the market and interact with people and view different things in a more real sense, while blocking out the dozens of eyes that are staring at me. Being the only white person around, often for several blocks or more, attracts more attention than one might imagine.

The past couple days I’ve again spent doing the construction work I came to do. Monday was particularly fun though. About two-hundred street kids and orphans were at the compound for lunch, games and to receive letters from their sponsor, if they have one. My van carrying two “umuzungus” (their word for foreigner, rich person, or white man) pulled over to it a crowd of about fifty children over to greet us. It was so comical as they ran along side the van banging on the windows. I was instantly mobbed when I exited. It was really a blast to play with them before I started work. They love to grab my hand and be lifted into the air or swung around. It’s great at first, most of them are very light, but after you’ve lifted several hand fulls and there are twenty more in line, you start to get tired and quickly suggest another game. Also, I was carrying a heavy bag of tools and I knew that as soon as I set it down, its contents would be dispersed among the crowd. The kids have so much fun. All of them want to either shake my hand or give me a high five. Needless to say, I was there for awhile as I shook a countless number of tiny hands.

Close to the beast

Flat Tire… No Problem

Here’s a funny picture of the flat we got on our way up the mountain to see the gorillas. No worries though. The wheel was changed in about six minutes and we were back truckin. Part of the journey was done on the road, part was off the road and part of it we were just crawling across open rocks. I learned to keep my head inside so I would stop banging it against the top of the window frame.

Minor Setback

 

Kayonza

Today I visited an orphanage in the small town of Kayonza, about an hour outside Kigali. The orphanage cared for about eighty kids ranging in age from just a couple years to about sixteen and seventeen. I spent a couple hours meeting some of the kids and checking out the facilities. It was sad because these kids were orphans, most have come off the streets, but it also was heartwarming to see how they are now being taken care of and how they have a clean place to live with people who love them. They live in dorm type rooms, six per room. The space is limited but everything is clean and the kids seemed happy.

I spent some time talking with a kid named Peter. He is sixteen and liked some of the same things I do. He spoke a small amount of english, but we were able to talk about how good the soccer final we watched on TV a few days ago was. We both liked seeing Manchester United win in a shoot-out. Many of the other kids there are big into soccer . However, they call it football. They had a game going while I was there. They played on the concrete basketball court and used rocks to mark the goals. Most of them wear sandals or play barefoot. Even with floppy shoes they could still run circles around me. They obviously play alot because they have the fancy footwork down. I can’t believe how fast they can run in flip-flops.

It was yet another experience that words don’t do justice for. I got a few pictures. I’ll try to get them up soon.