Chalice: Notes from the field...

Welcome to Neema Clinic in Songea! We meet our Tanzanian Partners and set up the Clinic. After setting up, there is a lively celebration prepared for us at De Paul Secondary School, Msamala Playing a game of soccer.....very little knowledge of Swahili or English required :) Here they are wearing their Chalice t-shirts, the colour showing us which site they are from: ML, MS, or BL   (these are the first two letters of your sponsor child's Child Code) And, of course, where there are Tanzanians, there will be dancing! This is a traditional dance performed by men and it is when partners are chosen for marriage (now it is only performed by boys)

After a comfortable rest overnight in the Seminary of the Precious Blood Fathers in Morogoro, we set out on a 14 hour bus ride from Morogoro to Songea (where our 1st clinic will be).  We drove through Mikumi National Park and saw many giraffes, zebras, wart hogs, monkeys....we'll see you again on safari when our clinics end!

Friday, August 3 Anyone from outside of the Greater Toronto Area arrives... 4 from Halifax: Alwyn, Johanne, Maria, and myself 1 from Thunder Bay: Maribeth 1 from Swift Current: Shayla 1 from Calgary: Shirley 1 from Yellowknife: Gerri We stayed overnight at a nice hotel - last chance for a Canadian meal and sleep in a comfy bed (with adjustable firmness!). Saturday, August 4 This photo was taken the following morning. Can you guess who is who? From here we were picked up by the airport shuttle.  Departure from Toronto Airport scheduled at 10:15 a.m. ....but we had lots of "bonding time" as we sat on plane until 2 p.m. .... then finally up in the air with Ethiopian Airlines! Sunday, August 5 Stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - beautiful and green all around - on the ground for less than an hour (just long enough to make 1 post on facebook with the free wireless internet available....oh what a treat wireless internet is!!!) We landed...

Karibu! Welcome! Karibuni Sana! You are all very welcome! Much has happened over this past week...where to begin?! Yesterday was our second clinic day, and we saw 352 children, women and men!