Goodbye to Jacob!!!

Jacob left us this morning to head to Durban, south africa with his classmates... he was excited and I think a little sad to leave his mom and dad... Thank God!

We packed up last night in the darkness of our home(the scheduled power outage from 6-8pm) and got him ready to go.. He should arrive in Durban about 6pm, 12 pm your time.

they've got a huge week planned for them. Besides flying to and from Durban, they have nature walks, trips to the beach and bird sancutary, a visit to the mangrove swamps, Natal Sharks Board, a boat cruise and a trip to Ushaka Marine World(like the beach waterpark + the aquarium) Here's their web site

http://www.ushakamarineworld.co.za/home.html . a webpage for treasure beach, where he is staying..... http://www.wessa.org.za/reg_kzn_treasure.asp a webpage for one of the boat cruises.... who are apparently famous for their booze cruises http://www.sariemaraiscruises.co.za/

And here's a general web site for durban.

http://durban.kzn.org.za/durban/index.html .

I don't even care where he goes, I'm just glad he got a hair cut yesterday.. We went to "Hair Scene" in the Riverwalk Mall where Clive and Sasha took care of making him look human again.

I went to Gabane yesterday and had a day of photo taking. it was a nice day, and a had a few interesting conversations.. I met with Mabel who was in line with her friend Mary gathering water at the local well to take home for the day. There was a huge line, everyone waiting for water. Apparently, there was a problem with the pump and there was a shortage...

Mabel(1st photo) is from Zimbabwe, works 8am-12am everyday for 400 pula a month. that's

66 USD. She was sweet, took me to the bar and i met her friends... She works at the "Oceans Bar". I also met with Mighty(girl in window), a young boy name Reuben(me in photo). He calls me Uncle andy b/c I meet with his family everytime I go to Gabane and have taken photos of his family members almost every week I go. I have videos of my drive there and some local girls speaking in setswana.. i'll post soon

I met with another woman who criticized me and my being there..She asked what I was doing there, why I wanted to take photos and said I was only going to take them back to the U.S. to show other Americans how poor and stupid people from Botswana were.. I tried to explain to her that that was not the case, that I had been coming here for months and was taking photos of people b/c I respected them, thought they were beautiful and I had nothing else to do.. I told her I didn't want to just sit in my home, was an artist and felt it important to in some way experience the culture. I then added that most of us in America(myself included) are the ones that are ignorant, and half of us would die without electricity, if we had to fetch water everyday, etc... She wasn't impressed, told me that it is unfortunate that we as americans look down upon Africans and that we don't know who their President is.. I said i agreed, she laughed and she gave me the botswana handshake. Then she added that she thought my photos were beautiful and wished me well.

It was interesting to say the least and made me a little uncomfortable... but I always enjoy my time out in gabane and this was no exception.. the truth is.. people here are poor and if you have 6 pula in your pocket, you have more than anyone else in the village... Everyone is looking for work, is looking for a way to feed their family, etc. but they seem, at least on the outside, happy, kind and always inviting...

nothing else to report.... jake's on his way to durban. i hope all goes well.. He should have a great time...