Off to Gombe

Off to Gombe.

It is 6:30am and we’re all wild with anticipation to get to Gombe. The chimps can be elusive, but we’re excited to see the National Park and stand where Dr. Jane stood when she started her research. More on that after our 2.5 hour (each way) boat ride on Lake Tanganyika. Woo Hoo!

We filmed the kids yesterday. It went very well. Their English is very, very good, but when we got the sections where they were describing the environmental issues and the Roots & Shoots solutions, it quickly became clear that they were much more comfortable and eloquent in Swahili. So, our films will be half in English (My name is… I live in… Kigoma is… Our home life is…), and half in Swahili. We’ll sit tomorrow morning with Augustino and Shadrach and translate for subtitles.

Andy and Jaime spent the day working one-on-one with the students really honing their mouse skills. Again, the concepts come quickly, but the darn mouse is monster to tame. It is tiresome but rewarding work. By the end of the day in the hot sun filming, and working feverishly to get them proficient in Premiere, we were all EXHAUSTED. We went to the beach bar for a beer, then off to town to buy shampoo from a stall.

We told the kids that the computers they were using, and a few cameras were staying at the Institute and they all cheered loudly. All day long, every kid came up and told us how happy they were the Pearson Foundation was making their futures better. They love Premiere and had thought that they better work fast, because once we all left with the computers, they might not every have the chance to work on one again.

So, off we go! More on our adventure tomorrow.

E