Karibu!!

I did it. I made it to Africa. I've now officially slept one night in the southern hemisphere in a lovely country called Tanzania. Pretty awesome if you ask me. It's been a little crazy initially, just trying to get our feet on the ground, but I think I'll adjust pretty soon.

I had a really interesting run-in with a woman on my plane to Nairobi. We just started talking for a bit about this, that, and the other thing, and turns out she was heading back down to Zambia to take some clothes to her mother that is running an orphanage for children who've lost their parents to AIDS. We continued to talk for awhile, and she shared with me a long story (i won't post all of the details right now) about how she had just found out that she had contracted HIV from her promiscuous husband, and how he and three of his buddies had raped a 10 year old girl in belief that sleeping with this virgin would cure them of HIV. And this was all shared before the plane was off of the runway. I think it was the first moment that this trip felt real to me. I've talked about coming here for so long, I've red so much and done a lot of research, but to actually sit down next to a woman and hear her story of her life and how HIV has affected her personally was so real that the memory of this conversation will be with me forever. I hope that while I'm here, I'll be able to at least effect some sort of change so that these types of stories won't ever have to be shared again. Progress will be slow, but hopefully what we're doing here will make an impact on these people's lives.

On a lighter note: I went on an amazing hike today to this waterfall that was hidden in the foothills of a local mountain...I've never seen more fertile, plush green land in my life, and I found out that this area is where my first village is going to be located, so I get to live there for 5 weeks!! I think we hiked somewhere around 10 miles today, and I am exhausted. So I'm looking forward to African rendition of Chinese food dinner and then finally passing out under my mosquito net canopy tonight. I won't have internet again for a few weeks, but I'll post again next time I do.

Tuko pamoja, and love from Tanzania.