More pictures...

Arthur hanging out on the beach on our hike in Plettenberg Bay

A huge seal colony that we saw on our hike

Hiking in beautiful Plettenberg Bay

Plettenberg Bay with the mountains behind

Our campsite in Natures Valley, which the amazing sunset on the mountains

Backpackers

Since leaving Cape Town we have been backpacking on the garden route, staying at what are called backpackers. What is that you might ask? Backpackers are just like hostels but they can be located anywhere from the middle of cities to the middle of the woods, they have self catering kichens, and run a lot of tours. They have everything from dorm rooms to regular hotel rooms to camping and we have been taking advantage of all of them.

We are traveling on a bus that you can get off and on as many times as you like, hopping from town to town along the coast.

Here are links to some of the places we have stayed.

http://wildtongue.co.za/index.htm

http://www.wildernessbackpackers.com/

and the bus company:

http://www.bazbus.com/

our map

Wanna see where we're going? check out our (rough) google map!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=-20.385825,30.454102&spn=19.607074,29.707031&z=5&msid=106898594804214664882.00044b5e5fdbe89556151

Pictures from South Africa

Traveling, indeed! Here are some pictures:

Penguins on the Cape!

View from Cape of Good Hope, looking east

Us at the Cape

Us on a wine tour outside of Stellenbosch

It's cold here! At our backpacker's hotel in the town of Wildreness

Crazy looking bird in the town of Wilderness

Jellyfish on the beach, being devoured by snails. yumm

We're off (we think!) !

Warning: The following post if a THEORY! A hope, really. Nothing is set.
BUT: Tomorrow morning, we are planning on leaving Cape Town to start traveling across Southern Africa. We had originally planned on leaving Tanzania and heading southwest until we hit Cape Town, but because of the medical stuff, we are now hoping to do our trip in reverse. Our plan, as of now, is:

1. Now: Cape Town, leaving April 17th

2. One week on the Garden Route of South Africa, tasting wine, learning to surf, going on hikes, dolphin watching, canoeing, and relaxing. We will be camping for half the time.

3. Then head to the mountains of Lesotho, where we will go pony trekking and hiking for four days.

4. Then to Johannesburg to see a bit of the city, then meet Arthur's Mom, brother, and future sister in Law.

5. Then we head to Botswana for a one week safari, then to Victoria Falls for a relaxing few days.

This is when Arthur's family leaves, and our trip really turns to theory:

6. From Victoria falls, head up to Lusaka (Zambia) for a couple of days.

7. Travel to South Luangwa National Park (Zambia) for a few days, sleeping in a tree house.

8. Head to Malawi, starting at Mt. Mulanje where we will hike for a few days.

9. Head north to the beach of Lake Malawi. The last time we were on this lake (called lake Nyasa on the Tanzania side), we got engaged. So we'd like to go back and go swimming, snorkeling, and watch the sunset.

10. Take a ferry up the lake and go hiking for a few more days on the mountains on the coast of the lake.

11. Back in Tanzania! Go to Mbeya for a day

12. Then, we have no idea. Maybe back to Songea? Straight to Dar to fly home?

This all depends on so many factors (like health, jobs, etc), and if all those plans don't sound tenuous enough, remember that we're traveling all by bus and public transit, meaning that we don't really know when or where we'll end up.

But we'll be sure to let you all know, and post pictures when we can. As of now, even our flights home are on different months out of different countries, but we'll hopefully both be home by early June.

And we're off...!!!

Happy Birthday

One of the hardest parts about being thousands of miles from home is missing out on family and friends. Well today is my grandfather's birthday. Happy Birthday from Cape Town, wish I could be there!

Not in Tanzania any more

Enjoying breakfast in Cape TownRelaxing by the pool at our apartment

Enjoying the scenery on Lion's Head Mountain, a 30 minute walk from our apartment

Delicious berry pancakes for breakfast? A relaxing pool? Everybody speaking English? Hiking a mountain out our back door? Where are we?

Cape Town!

Pictures from our time in Songea

One of our activities at the community center was working with the womens group. We arrange to have a demonstration at the community center for the womens group of the Money Maker Pump. Some of you might have heard about this pump, it was displayed in NYC for the exhibit "inventions for the other half" and has been in magazines and books for similar reasons. It was a great watching the women climb up on the back of a pick up truck to try out the pump, cheering each other on.
When we first arrived in Songea the land had recently been burned. There was no grass and the land was mostly red and black. When we left Songea for the last time a week ago the land was green and the grass was now taller than we were. As you can see below as Saidi marches down a bath behind our house, the land can change a lot over a year.
This week we spent wrapping up our work for MCW. Our last task was to purchase five new computers in Dar es Salaam and send them to Songea. A team member (featured below with the new computers) came to Dar (his first time) to buy the computers with us and to take them back to Songea. It was a little nerve wracking leaving five brand new computers at a bus stand hopping they would make it to Songea.
Roads can be an adventure in Tanzania. The one below is the road to our home. Over our time in Songea the road went from pretty good to horrible. The government tried to fix it many times over a three month period each time making it worse. As you can see below a "walk way" built up in the middle of the road narrowing it down to one lane. It was also so muddy that only SUVs could make it through.

What does it take to build a library?

What does it take to build a library in Songea? First books are shipped from the United States. After a full year, due to customs and shipping issues, they arrive in Songea. As you have read in past posts about the container arrival, all books are in English and include books on How to Grow Shrubs in Cold Climates and The Guide to S&M.

Over the next 5 months the bookshelves, desk, chairs, and table need to built, room needs to be painted, and windows need to be installed. This is not as easy as it might seem. After months of waiting, we are told that the first bookshelf will arrive the next day. It does not arrive, and we are told it will come the next day. The next day we are told the next day. After a few days of this it finally does arrive, but it is too big to fit through the door. So they take off the door. A month later the next bookshelf arrives. Once again it is too big, so they chop off the bottom. After they have put all furniture in, they decide to paint and plaster the ceiling, which covers all the furniture in paint and plaster. But finally, after a year and a half of planning, building, and shipping, the library is ready for books.

We spent our last week in Songea putting the books on the shelves, dividing them into categories, labeling shelves, and labeling all the books. We even went to the local bookstore and found some books in Swahili. Yes, everything took a very long time. But seeing a team member so absorbed in a book that she did not want to leave work to go home made all the frustrations and time well worth it.

The new library with the librarian

Schenk Family Vacation

A month ago my family came to visit. We went on a wonderful two week trip around Tanzania. It started out like a typical Schenk family vacation of camping in national parks, hanging out with elephants, and watching the beautiful local birds. We got to see over 50 species of birds, beautiful landscapes, and played lots of rounds of Wizard. After the first week sadly Bebeth and Mark had to return to the US to get back to work. The rest of us traveled to Zanzibar for a week on the beach. My mom has a unique skill of finding beautiful places on the beach with out toilets, a favorite of our family. As many of you know my family loves Maho Bay in the Virgin Islands and my mom was able to find the equivalent in Tanzania, Chumbe Island. It was a great eco resort on a tinny island off the coast of Zanzibar. It had self sustaining bungalows, amazing food, and some of the best snorkeling in the world. It was a great two weeks that went too fast.

Courtney standing in the eco bungalow on Chumbe Island