Hi all! We are in Tanzania now. We are staying in the capital, Dar Es
Salaam. We have a friend here, Billy, who we met in Rwanda last
summer. He hooked us up at an orphanage for the mornings and a school
for street children in the afternoons.

A quick recap on the Ghana trip. Overall it was great. Peter,
Catherine, and Stephen were super! No one was seriously sick or hurt
and everyone complained as little as possible when unexpected things
happened (like the toilet in larbanage recently vanishing . .. .
wow!).

The trip started off well with safe flights. We met Faisal at the
airport and went for a drink. It was so great to see him. We giggled
about past memories and he told us he had married a Canadian girl in
April! Apparently they lived together for a year and married right
before she left to go back to Canada. Currently he is waiting for the
visa paperwork to go through. We were so shocked! We had no idea. We
are so happy for him. There is no one else we would wish happiness for
more than Faisal. It will be great to have him on our side of the
world too! He has grown alot these past two years and was far more
worldly than the last timer we saw him. He was happier too. That made
me smile.

When Tom's parents arrived, Catherine's luggage was missing! We had to
keep moving so, unfortunately, we could not wait for it. As it turns
out, it never made it to Accra (even after they left for the US!)  I
loaned her some of my clothes and we were able to make do. She was a
good sport about it. When Stephen went to latin america with us, he
lost his luggage too! We must be bad luck.

We went straight to Tamale on a summer long bus ride and then to
Larabanga. It was interesting to be back there. Everyone was happy to
see us and it was great to see our old friends. We were surprised that
Zenabu had not grown much and the clothes we bought her were WAY too
big. But it was fun to see her and everyone else.

The next day we went to Mole National Park and did a walking safari.
We saw elephants, monkeys, and a bunch of different animals. It was
great! AT the end of the safari, Peter started acting strange and
walking unsteadily. We had no idea what was wrong. Eventually, we
arrived at a pool and he just jumped in with his socks on. After an
hour or so he seemed back to normal. In retrospect, I think he may
have suffered heat stroke! It was a good thing he jumped into that
pool!

When we returned to the village we greeted our friend, Afishata. He
giggle and told us she would see us in a hour. About an hour later I
left my room and walked over to her. She looked like she was ready to
cry. I asked what was wrong and she began to sob. He "senior father"
(her father's oldest brother) had just died. I walked with her as she
sobbed and realized he was also the head Iman in the village. We
entered a courtyard and there were hundreds of people sobbing. I began
to cry as well. After a few minutes I saw Afishata had many hands to
console her so I left because I did not want anyone to think I was
being a tourist to everyones grief. The village was in mourning the
rest of our stay.

Before leaving Larabanga, we got Zenabu's families' permission to
travel with her in Ghana. We also set up a new way for her to go to
school and get fed meat and veggies once a day. We hope that it will
work out. We took her all over Ghana and it was great! Catherine
bought her "The very hungry caterpillar" and Tom and I got her some
markers and she read and colored the whole time!

When we left Larabanga, we went to Tamale and volunteered a two
orphanages. The first orphanage was very nice. It had many staff and
only 11 children. There were clean clothes and a lot of food. Overall
it was a pleasant atmosphere. We fed and played with the babies there.

The other orphanage was more like the one in Rwanda, only poorer. The
staff was doing its best, but there were not enough supplies. Diapers
were only changed 3 times a day, so by noon the floor was covered in
urine and babies were soaking wet. The building was a dimly lit and
there were not nearly enough staff. The smell was so bad I had to
leave frequently because it made me light headed. But, the kids were
cute and Zenabu had fun playing with kids her own age.

In Tamale, we also traveled 3 hours to a waterfall. We were stopped by
police half way there and our taxi driver was forced to pay a very
large bribe! We were so angry! However, the waterfall experience was
so much fun that we quickly forgot our anger.

Zenabu had never really been out of her village before. Our hotel was
two stories tall and she was so frightened at first! When she saw the
waterfall she nearly cried. However, by the end, she was running and
swimming in the falls. The rest of the trip she was saw "Waterfall!"
and mime some of her water games.

We also went to see the house that Faisal was building in Tamale. It
is great! He has a little plot of land and is making a western style
home. The walls are nearly finished. Faisal is such a neat guy!

We also went to Shanga Village and found out what was happening there.
This was the village we bought the well for instead of buying party
favors for the wedding. The actual results were sketchy until this
trip. As it turned out, the government had tried to make wells.
However, the water was too deep underground and they could not access
it. As a result, the village had a meeting and decided they wanted
their current water source expanded and cleared. As it was, the water
was muddy and dried up. When it went dry they had to share the water
hole with the cows. What they did was remove all of the mud from the
center of their water hole so the water was cleaner and made the hole
bigger. As a result, they have water there all year round. They seemed
very happy to see us when we arrived.

After our time in Tamale, we went Kumasi and visited the town and a
very laid back art market. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. Then we
went to Cape Coast. At Cape Coast we took tom';s family on the tour of
the slave castle and Zenabu tried to poop in the middle of the walkway
(you can take the girl out of the village but never the vaillage out
of the girl haha). In Cape Coast, Zenabu saw the ocean for the first
time. We took her out to the water and she loved the waves. She would
scream "Ocean, COME!" when the waves moved away. It was so cute!!!

While in Cape Coast, Tom learned that he has been hired to teach high
school english at a high school in southeast DC. The school is 99.71
percent black! (there is one latino kid). He is nervous but also very
very very excited. Yay Tom!

We also visited the rainforest and everyone walked across the rope
bridges (even Zenabu). Everyone was super brave and it was very very
beautiful.

We ended the trip at the beach. We played a lot on the water with
Zenabu, walked around town, and generally relaxed. It was a really
pleasant time. We dealt with Zenabu's first tempoer tantrum but after about 30 minutes it ended and I did some positive practice of following directions witrh lots of praise and we did not have any more problems. She's so amazing!

We said goodbye to Zenabu in Accra on our last day. I sang her a song
and gave her lost of hugs. We told her she was wonderful and she
needed to go to school and we thought she was so smart. She walked
away, holding hands with Faisal, down the street to catch a taxi, and
never looked back. She is going to just fine.