Diary - Monday, March 7, 2005 

Jambo everyone and it is our sincere wish that you are all well and happy and enjoying life to the max wherever you may be. Before I begin with this latest update both Pat and I would like to express our gratitude to Kathleen (Khadija) Leachman who left Jambiani on Saturday and who, we have been informed, is safely back in Vancouver. Kathleen touched a lot of people here during her stay, including Pat and I, and her desire to help and contribute in so many ways, including her formidable baking talents, were really appreciated by everyone. Thank you Khadija, tunashukuru sana!

We are also happy to report that Dr Zabin (Zawadi) Suleman has arrived safely from Calgary and in fact had her first day up at the centre today. Zabin is a Chiropractor and was born in Arusha, lived in Nairobi for several years before moving to Canada with her parents. Zabin is settling in easily and we are really looking forward to spending the next month with her. As usual, we'll get her to add a few comments of her own with our next update.

Well, the big news from here is that over the last week, we managed to bring the entire contents of our shipment from Canada out here to Jambiani and in fact, we have almost finished with the distribution of all of these goods. I have to say, this has been no easy task, and we have had a considerable amount of help from members of our local community. For those of you who were involved with the packing of the container (it was a 40 footer!) you'll remember just how much was packed in there so you can imagine how much effort was involved to accomplish this task.

The first photo shows the container in Canada being loaded. We packed enough school desks and chairs to outfit every school in Jambiani where these items were needed. No more sitting on the floor for these kids!

Here is some of the happy crew when the container was finished being packed and ready for its trip to Montreal where it was loaded on a ship and bound for Zanzibar via Mombassa, Kenya.

I don't think I can effectively relay to you just how grateful the people here were and are for this assistance. We, along with the help of several local friends of ours, distributed over 400 bags of used clothing to some of the neediest families. We had dozens of boxes of books which we have been able to give to the schools and to individuals. We also have several boxes of hospital supplies and equipment which we hope to distribute in the very near future to some of the surrounding clinics.

The third photo is in Stonetown with our crew from Jambiani just before we started to pack the trucks.

The warehouse photo shows just a small portion of the total consignment.

We filled five huge trucks before we left town to return to the "Jam"

When we returned, about 200 people were on hand to help with the unloading of the goods. We put everything into our compound, with books, clothes and medical supplies being put into the clinic. This was a huge job, but so rewarding to see the excitement on everyone's face. That evening, all of the desks and chairs were taken by truck to the schools.

Even the kids chipped in to help carry things. This was extremely heart warming to sense their excitement. Almost like Christmas!!

I could go on and on with the pictures, but for now this will have to do. I know our man Kent at eMotion Media Group is hoping to set up a new system where we can upload pictures from here to the picture section of this site so when that is in place I'll post a few more for you all to see. It really was a wonderful event and we would like to thank all of you who were involved with this back in Victoria and elsewhere for making this dream come true for the people of Jambiani. We are truly grateful!!

I would also like to take a moment here to acknowledge the work that Pat has been doing here with her wound care clinic that she runs in the morning and evening. Pat is providing an amazing service to those folks young and old, who cut themselves with knives, fall from bicycles, get pierced by sting rays or in many other ways manage to tear pieces of flesh from their bodies. I totally admire Pat's dedication to ensuring that these people get proper care of their wounds and in addition she looks after a lot of kids who have chest infections and temperatures. I'm certain she has saved lives doing this. As you all may know, Pat is a teacher but she has taken this task on because there is a need and she is going to great lengths to help fulfill those needs. Thank you Mama Patima!!!

On that note, I think we'll sign off for now. As all-ways, we thank you all for your love and support and encouragement. It is a wonderful thing we are creating here and when I say we I don't just mean Pat and me, I mean all of you who read these updates, all of the volunteers, past, present and future and all of you who help or support the project in so many ways. Let's keep up the good work. When you consider what's happening on the planet these days, I feel it is a good choice to try to be part of the solution versus part of the problem. I think we are on a good track.

Love you all, and we'll be back in a couple of weeks or so with something completely new.

Anakusalimu,

Ali Baba and Patima