Jambo Rafiki!

Hello Everyone! Greetings from beautiful Dar es Salaam, which in Swahili means "haven of peace." From what I have seen so far, the city is pretty peaceful. However, TIA (this is Africa), so no city is completely free of crime, petty theft and corruption. I must be careful, I know. This is my first blogging experience, and I am trying to figure out how it all works. So, please forgive me if I am not "Johnny on the Spot" for the first couple of weeks!

I arrived in Dar a week ago, and am officially settled into my new apartment. For those of you who may be confused as to what I am doing in Tanzania, I will clarify. I accepted a position at the International School of Tanganyika. It is a two year position, with an opportunity to continue at the end of two years. I will be teaching Learning Support at the secondary level to the children of high ranking officials from all over the world!!! It is certainly an adjustment coming from Light in Africa, where I was working with the poor of the poor and some of the most needy children in Tanzania. This has already proven to be quite a difficult adjustment, and I must make sure I don't lose sight of the real reason I am here in Africa. While I have an excellent position with IST, I also have the opportunity to go out into the local community, meet Tanzanian people, and continue to help in whatever way I can.

Dar is definitely a beautiful city. We are right on the ocean, with the beach being minutes from my apartment. Although we can not swim at this specific beach, there are several beaches nearby that are perfect for relaxing for the day in the EXTREMELY HOT Dar sunshine! I must say it hasn't been too hot yet, but we have been lucky. I am preparing myself for the African summer months ahead of us. I hear they are miserable.

I was lucky to be able to arrive in Africa two weeks prior to my first day of training in Dar. Bryan, Michael and Nathan...some friends from Boise...planned a trip to Kenya/Tanzania to coincide with my free time here. So, as most of you know, I literally dropped my bags off in my apartment and flew to Moshi to meet them. I was able to spend a week at Light in Africa with the kiddos (while Bryan, Michael and Nathan successfully climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro), and I met several new volunteers who are now near and dear to my heart! Infact, three of them are coming to visit me this weekend, and are bringing my little Godfrey (and two other boys, Peter and Alex) with them. We are going to spend the weekend at the beach spoiling the boys...as we do best! On a side note, for those of you familiar with LIA, Pilgrim was attacked by bees a few days ago. They had to be evacuated and poor Rogathe was stung over 100 times. He is currently in the hospital, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Everyone else is fine. LIA is continuing to make progress on the new site...but needs much more funding and volunteer labor before it is ready. Hopefully they will be able to finish in the next year or so!

Well, I will stop there. I am off to safari tomorrow with all the new hires at the school. There are almost 30 newbies, so it is wonderful. It's always nice to have other people in the same boat! Hope everyone continues to read my blog...and I hope I am not too boring. I will also be posting pictures to give you a better idea of my life in Tanzania. Love you all!!!!