Diary - Tuesday, December 19, 2005 

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Victoria, BC and it is time once again to get back on the update track after a short intermission since Pat and I left Jambiani in October. As usual, it has been a pretty busy time for us but we did manage to take a couple of weeks off to just relax and essentially do nothing. What a luxury!!

Our fundraiser at the Six Mile Pub went off without a glitch and I think everyone who attended had a lot of fun. Many thanks to everyone who helped out and in particular to Owen and Doris Seeton who selflessly put the entire event together themselves. Also many thanks to David Wong and staff at the Six Mile and to Arne Elias and the "Syndicate" for making the trip over from Vancouver for the event. You guys rock!!!

At this point, it looks like Pat and I will be returning to Zanzibar by mid January and boy do we have an action packed year coming up. On the clinical side, we are now essentially booked out with volunteers until 2008 and for 2006 and 2007, we have a pretty impressive lineup of practitioners. I'm delighted to report that many of our volunteers over the next two years are Chiropractors. Dr Nathalie Gagne, our first volunteer in 2006, will be arriving in February. A native of Quebec, Nathalie sounds like a very dedicated individual with a family history of providing Chiropractic care to their community and we look forward to welcoming her to Jambiani in the very near future. As usual, we'll bring you more on Nathalie after her arrival in the new year.

Pat has been actively involved with the many preparations required to begin the initial phase of her project which is to create an opportunity for some of the members of our community to acquire skills in the tourism sector. This is a very exciting project and if all goes according to plan, we will, in the beginning, oversee the construction of a small Juice Bar/Restaurant that will not only provide a venue for training and an opportunity for employment but will also hopefully generate some funds that can be used to ensure the sustainability of the entire project for many years to come. It is a classic win-win scenario and we are very excited about this next phase of the project!! We will give you all the details of this in our next couple of updates.

Pat has also been in communication with the Rotary Club of Oak Bay and it appears as if they will be supplying some funds to help improve the water delivery system in Jambiani. This is fantastic news and what a wonderful gift to the people of Jambinai who at the present frequently need to carry water because of the lack of pressure experienced in certain parts of the village. We'll also keep you posted on this development as it unfolds.

I expect to begin regular updates once we get back to Jambiani and have ongoing news to relay to you. Please stay tuned.

Pat and I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all of you who continue to support us in so many ways. Your encouragement is much appreciated and we really look forward to this coming year with optimism and excitement as we forge ahead with the work at hand.

We would also like to wish you all a very peace-full holiday season and we hope that this coming New Year brings all good to you wherever you may be.

Until the next time, Much love to you all.

Alastair and Pat