Malabo's Public Service Announcement

Click on the link at the bottom of this blog entry to see a rough-cut of Malabo's movie. We have some more work to do, obviously, but it is getting close. Just some tweaks are needed. Also, Kelly, Mitch, Annelize, Andy, and I all recorded (or will record tonight) short call-to-action introductions for each student's film.

Last night we had a nice dinner with the Bishop's wife, her kids, and her mother. Her mother was married to the second president of Botswana. That makes the Bishop's wife the daughter of the same. Our good friend Patrick (who had been managing our event for the hotel) finally had a chance to sit with us last night. He about fell over when he found out that he was sitting next to the President's wife!

Last day went well. Andy and team finished up with the original students, and then invited local officials and parents to come watch. It went really well and a majority of the movies are just unbelievably good. Andy and team tried to load the movies off of the computers so that we could pack them and get them to FedEx by 4:00. He started on one computer (we had 8) at 2:30, but it took 1/2 hour. SOO...that wasn't going to work. At the same time he was trying show movies to the parents, I was running around gathering orphans from the pool and playground. We finally got in touch with FedEx and they were, indeed, open on Saturday morning at 9am for us! Whew.

We packed up (well, Kelly and Andy packed up), and I finished with the orphans...as much as I could. By Friday, they were so distracted by the pool, that I couldn't get them to focus too much. However, they learned a TON. This group, going from no knowledge about computers and cameras, has come so far. Malabo was happy just to record herself singing into the Mac and playing it back. We put one track of her singing in her movie. It was sad to say goodbye to them. I put them in the car, gave them each 20 pula to buy some treats (about $3.50 for each, but they were screaming with joy), then cranked the radio with one of my favorite dance songs. I had two additional kids that day, so we were crammed. Every time the vocalist sang, "PUT 'EM HIGH", we would raise our hands in the air and they would laugh riotously. I waved goodbye at the store. I had burned them a CD with their movies and pictures. I'll not soon forget them.

We got up today and packed the two MANUAL cars. We were just about to leave when we noticed that the back window to the car Andy and I were to drive had a fine crackle all over the entire window. WEIRD. No impact mark. It started to fizzle and gurgle in front of us, then when I opened my door to drive, it FELL IN all over our stuff. Oh well, a long, dusty four-hour drive to Gabarone! Cool. We went to FedEx and got everything off to Ghana. Mitch cleaned up the broken glass everywhere. We took off on the Gabarone road with the music blasting. We made the mistake of opening our windows, and then as we sped up, the wind started whipping around hundreds of pieces of (safety) glass. Ouch. It really only stung a little.

Andy led the pack. He quickly understood all the ins and outs of the road. First bit was O.K. Then, we kept coming up on very slow lories, so Andy would get ready then punch it! Two lane road with desert scrub on either side. Needless to say, we had a few close calls (goats in the road, cattle meandering, and (the equivalent of) antelopes. Not to worry. Mitch kept up. Kelly hid herself in her Chinese language course and post-produced Molobo's movie in the passenger seat

It is dry season now, so the countryside is a bit barren. It was still beautiful, with lots of goats and donkeys and mud huts.

We are in Gabarone now, and we all have to be at the press junket in 30 minutes, dressed in ties. We'll have a reception after. I am SOOO excited to be in a room using MY OWN computer with not-too-slow wireless Internet. Not too much staring a the screen, as I've been doing for DAYS at the Marang on their office computer. This might get easier for a couple of days.

More from Andy tomorrow.

I SWEAR! (More Shutterfly photos coming soon, too.)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Time shift.

We just got back from the press meeting. There were reporters and cameramen there from two national newspapers. We spoke about the program, then showed them Malabo's movie. They couldn't believe it. It really was an amazing meeting.

Off for some great Botswanan bbq out in the bush tonight. Joe from Pearson Longman will join us. He's so thrilled to have the Pearson Foundation here to support him.

Fly to Joburg to meet up with everyone tomorrow!

More from South Africa.