This morning we were having a fairly serious meeting in our room, when one of our hosts, named Innocent, came bursting into our workroom with a huge smile on his face. (we had just gotten to the agenda item on talking about the safari!)... He came bearing gifts for each of us...declaring has he presented each that 'You are Tanzanian now'. For me, an American, I received a beaded Obama bracelet, and a beaded leather bracelet with the colors of Africa on it. It was all ceremonial, and fun. Each person had these gifts personally selected for them - including the one for Dan - the Masai warrior!..In this photo, Innocent is presenting the wristband to Roku. Innocent is wearing a hat for the workers union, in prep for Workers Day tomorrow.

As part of our team update today in that meeting, we were laying out or plans for the day..and then learned that we were not going to do any of what we planned...we were due at a school 15 minutes 'ago'! We were to do more interviews and they got them scheduled for this morning. We threw out our plans for the day, packed up our bags, and away we went. We went to both a primary and secondary school in Dodoma. As with most places, everywhere we went, people stared at us with curiousity. Kids are especially cute when they do this..they look at you sideways with a small smirk on their face..and if you wave at them or say jambo - they either run away or get a huge bright smile on their face and wave and say jambo back in a very excited way. We asked if we could take a few photos, and upon receiving permission, we turned toward a group of kids playing, and took out our cameras. All of the ruckus stopped when they saw the cameras. As you can see, everyone of them was a big ham..and Sandip got into the act, running into the crowd to ensure he was also in the photo. The kids loved it. Especially when they get to see themselves in the picture.

After we visited the schools, we went back to the hotel. We finally found some power outlets in the courtyard, and plugged in and continued our work for a few hours. It was very productive ,and we were grateful for the quiet. The schools are crazy noisy all the time, and at the university, there is also a ton of noise and activity - so it was nice to have some quiet and regroup. Eventually the others in our CSC team met up with us, and we watched some cricket and had a nice meal outside. We discussed our logistics for the weekend to ensure we all knew the timeline and were where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. We are all restricted to no more than the normal bags we carry in to work..as we have a long drive in the same vehicles, with one more person, and no storage room in the jeeps. It will be quite a ride to Morogoro - but it will be a fantastic trip. I won't be able to blog for a few days - so don't forget to come back to ready on Sunday!