Random Bits

Our dear friend and honorary Pearson Foundation team member, Lisa Ling, had some last-minute changes to her work schedule so she is unable to come with us to South Africa this time around (she's coming when we go back!). She filmed an introduction to the girls from Oprah's Academy and surrounding neighborhoods who will make movies about Pearson's Sara Program (issues facing girls all over Africa). We'll show the girls Lisa's welcome video on the first day. Thought you might like to see it. Thanks Lisa!

Also, if you haven't downloaded Google Earth yet (it's free), DO IT! You'll be amazed. Once you have it, type in Gombe, Tanzania, and you can see the National Forest we'll visit with the kids from Roots & Shoots at the Jane Goodall Institute in Kigoma. (If you want to preview our entire trip, you can zoom across Africa and see the towns on Google Earth. Johannesburg, South Africa...Kigoma, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania...Fracistown, Botswana...Accra, Ghana...Addis Ababa and Gambella, Ethiopia). If you Google Earth (is that a verb?) Gombe, you'll notice something quite disturbing. Zoom out a bit to see the coastline of the lake. You'll see that Gombe is lush with trees and undergrowth, as it is a protected site. You'll also notice that the ten miles of Gombe coastline is the ONLY green and lush area along the lake. Sad.

Finally, a shameless plug for our friends at Pure Digital. They have supplied us with the most AMAZING video cameras. (

http://www.theflip.com/). We have 20 cameras to leave with students all across Africa (thanks for the donation, Marc!). The cameras cost around $100 each, weigh almost nothing, take BEAUTIFUL and high resolution video, and have a USB that plugs right into your computer. So cool.

We are carrying so much electronic equipment that we've asked all of our contacts in Africa to supply us with letters of intent for all of the customs agents we're BOUND to meet and with whom we'll undoubtedly spend much time explaining why we have 40 different types of cameras, scanners, cords, etc. You should see our luggage...

More tomorrow,

Erik