Long Travels!

Hello from Tanzania!

After a long journey I am in Mwanza at last. I need to be brief because this computer is horrible and my internet time is already running out, but here's a quick rundown of everything so far...

Drove 5 hours to Chicago to fly out on Tuesday night, then had a 7 and 1/2 hour flight to London (which I got exit row leg room for!), then I had to wait in Heathrow for 10 hours before my flight out to Dar es Salaam. I would have done some shopping or something in Heathrow but I only saw high end stores like dior, gucchi, tiffany & co, dolce, etc. My flight to Dar was 9 and 1/2 hours long and again I was lucky becuase no one was sitting next to me. If you can actually imagine this, I layed down in the fetal position on my two seats...yes, that's all 6 foot 3 of me laying down on two airplane seats. Needless to say it wasn't very comfortable :).

Once in Dar, I took a taxi to the Kurasini Centre, a church run hostel, and rested until the next day. Then I flew out to Mwanza just yesterday and am finally overcoming my jet lag. I'm staying at St. Dominick's Pastoral Centre (which is just a long name for a hostel). It is an enclosed compound with gates and guards and my room is self-contained with a bathroom. They even prepare three meals a day here in the cafeteria and they only cost $2, so that's quite the deal because I don't even have to shop or cook! I'm just resting today and tomorrow, but on Monday I will begin working at Shaloom Care House, which is an organization dealing mostly with HIV/AIDS education for the community.

I wish I could tell you more, but I'm quickly running out of time on this stone age computer. I'll try and get back here to the internet cafe tomorrow and tell you all a little bit about Mwanza. Until then, take care! I miss you all!

-Ben