On Our Way to Gambella!

Wow. It's been a year since I was in Gambella with Andy. He stayed for many months, and I just had four days there. I get to stay two weeks now! Andy and I now arrive home on the 13th.

We finished with the kids today. (Andy got ten minutes with them between meetings to get our computers out...more on that in a bit.) It went great. The parents arrived at 3:30 for "bites", coffee, and movie viewing. I told them all about our trip through Africa. They were curious as to why we were at ICS. I told them that I was hoping they could help me make sure that their sons and daughters paid it forward. The fact that they were already exposed to technology meant that I could take them further. I asked that they take their new knowledge and help kids in undeserved schools in Addis. They all enthusiastically agreed. We had our kids from the underserved schools there, and you could tell that the parents were happy to have their kids exposed to the idea of helping other who have fewer resources.

Andy spent the day, again, trying to get our computers out of hock at the airport. He was ten seconds away from a "yes" when someone found a signature "issue". We've been told we can get them tomorrow. Man, this could be so nerve-wracking but we've decided to be philosophical about it and just go with the flow.

So, we get up early tomorrow morning (Saturday) and pack, check out of the hotel, and meet our friend Yigzaw from the international school at 7:30am. We'll head to the airport, and hopefully get our computers out at 8:00am when the "right man" shows up. We have to check in to our Gambella flight by 9:00am. Hope we have enough time to do all of this. That said, one can never really be sure that a) the flight will go, b) one will get on the flight, even if one has confirmed one's seat, and c) the flight will actually stop in Gambella as printed on one's ticket...given the whim of the pilot and his choice of landing spots for the day.

We have many friends from Pact joining us in Gambella to help with the two week program. If we get our computers tomorrow, they will go on a slow truck to Gambella on Monday, arriving Wednesday. We'll spend Mon/Tues/Wed with the Gambella kids writing their narratives for their movies, teaching them to use the Flip video cameras and still cameras, and gathering assets for their films. When the computers arrive, we'll start by teaching them how to use the mouse! We love that part. I can't wait to get back to Gambella and to work with these kids, many of whom are orphans.

Now, I remember from last year that both power and Internet are intermittent in Gambella, and Andy spent hours trying to just send me two pictures one day. So, we promise to blog (we love doing it...well, I love doing it!), but don't get concerned if you don't hear from us for a few days here and there.

SO looking forward to tomorrow!

Best,

E