We spent the last few days putting the finishing touches on the center and preparing Vincent and Amnon for Stephanie and Tammy’s visit. And somewhere in there I turned 60. How terribly odd! Tammy from Disney’s Animal Kingdom was much nicer than I expected and Stephanie left her attitude at home so it went pretty well. They wanted to conduct an impromptu training session but Amnon and Vincent seemed overwhelmed and out of their league. Tammy wasn’t able to bring everything but brought enough to get the guys started. After they left at noon I put all the visual aids in place. I’m sure they will be surprised tomorrow.
Connie absented herself from most of their visit focusing instead on bathing and the laundry. She always did exhibit more common sense than most people. When she did show up the cheeky baboons who have become, if not aggressive, at least bothersome, smeared their muddy prints on the banda. They use our area as a highway from the forest to the nearby maize fields.
Tammy and Steph returned on Sunday with Ben and Moses. Ben seemed especially crabby but may be still suffering from his malaria. He and Moses were there to take credit for the mural and also to be “students” for Vincent and Amnon’s trial presentation. They were obviously uncomfortable with the material and overly respectful of the “students” but to their credit they did a pretty good job; better, said Tammy, than Robert and Lawrence’s first attempt. Maybe all the work we have done did pay off. The presentation will need to be streamlined and they must get more animated but it shows promise. Vincent did especially well telling a birding story and explaining the interdependence of the no longer present elephants and the elephant beer tree which requires the elephant’s digestive system for its seeds to germinate.
Stephanie threw us a couple of curves, first by O.K.ing the painting of the rest of the area and then telling Connie we could leave as early as August if we wanted. We have nowhere to go until September but we may check out some options. But now that we know what has to be done – painting, teaching the guys, initiating the education program, Roots and Shoots-ing, and coordinating with other local outreach programs we can pace ourselves accordingly.
Not long after the crew left with the late arrivals from SANSO, we felt “the earth move under our feet,” and earthquake tremor reminding us that we are in the Great Rift Valley. The lakes in this area, Edward, George, and Albert along with those farther south in Tanzania and Malawi are part of the Rift Valley which extends into Jordan and Israel. It’s easily seen on a map and is flanked by the volcanic mountains like Rwenzori and Kilamenjaro and Mt. Kenya.
