Happy 4th dudes!!!!! And Zimbabwe

It in no way feels like the 4th here... kids just left for school, it was about 40 degrees outside and there's no baseball on TV. Ghostbusters was on last night, so it made it a little easier to manage. There are no smoke bombs, sparklers, snaps, snakes or bottle rockets to light in the neighborhood. Only smoke from burning tires, snakes that can actually kill you and broken bottles in the streets. Hey that was pretty good!

We are headed over to the Shepherd's house tonight, a family from the U.S. to celebrate the holiday . they lived in Nigeria for the past 3 years and moved here a few months ago.. tomorrow is an Embassy party.. Jacob has a 22 km walk tomorrow morning at a farm outside the city at 6:45am.
The big news yesterday was that Kate has been awarded a certificate of good penmanship, which allows her to start writing in cursive. She's pretty excited, and was practicing all night last night.

Zimbabwe- I don't know how publicized the problem in Zim is back home, but it is pretty bad, and always in the news here. It's a situation that has affected Botswana in many ways, namely that many Zimbabweans flee their country and head here, a neighboring country. It seems to get worse each day,and yesterday there were people taking shelter in the U.S. embassy in Zim.
Celeste, who is from Zim. says that her relatives that live there say its gotten out of hand, and some call it a genocide. The situation hasn't affected Botswana in any violent way, but most of the people here in this country do not welcome those from Zimbabwe.
Celeste was supposed to go to Johannesburg for a church function, but wasn't allowed across the border b/c she holds a Zim. passport. The concern in South Africa is that they'll go across and never return.
Most people here think Robert Mugabe is insane.

Anyway, it's a sad state of affairs, and it seems everyday I run into 2 or 3 people from Zim. looking for a "piece job", simply to make money to buy food.
Celeste believes the situation will get even worse before it gets better.

Attached are photos of the twins from yesterday morning.. I've also posted 2 videos for your viewing pleasure.. the first one is of the wedding I photographed.. When the bride and groom arrive, the families parade them in with singing and dancing.. It was cool and the video doesn't really capture the singing... Motswana have an unbelievable ability to sing together, in harmony, off the cuff...



this video is of out trip to Khama. Not much wildlife, but you get to see the older kids...


Again.. copy and paste into your browser.. Happy 4th everyone!!! Hope all is well and that you are enjoying the hot weather.