ROADMONKEYS CLIMB KILI, WORK AT BJ SCHOOL

What can 10 vacationers do to pay back a country for the pleasure it's afforded them?

Join a group such as Roadmonkey, founded by New York Times reporter Paul von Zielbauer. Roadmonkey represents the new travel trend of philanthropical adventure. You enjoy a country, then pay it back.

In June, Paul and Stef Levner lead 10 adventurers to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, after they'd raised some $11,000 among their friends and families. After the successful trek up Africa's highest mountain, the group traveled south to Dar, checked into a seaside hotel, and set to work.

The all-woman team plus one husband built school desks, installed a pure water system (so water needn't be boiled before use), got the school cooks up off the floor by puting in two gas stoves, and painted and decorated classroom walls.

Paul says the adventurers put in long, tough days under the broiling African sun, surprised the local (male) work crew with their skills and fell in love with the children.

"Spending time at Bibi Jann was an amazing experience," says Jo Ellingson, a New Yorker designer raised in Oregon. "The community and school is filled with such love and light that will be with me forever. It is a wonderful thing you and Fatuma have built.

"I treasured every moment there - from building a relationship with
the guys that took us under their desk-building wings,to watching George (and
all of the teachers) light up the smiles of the children. Fatuma with Halima
graciously took us into their house everyday and made us feel like we were home.

"And of course all of the kids...in the school and on the dusty streets...holding
your hands,running into your arms,and just showing you how happy they were.
Unforgettable. I especially fell in love with the little girl in the golden
floral dress. She had the absolutely best giggle I have ever heard."

Roadmonkey's first trip was to Vietnam, where they built a playground for HIV-infected children. The remainder of the money raised for the Tanzania trip will be used to complete the Bibi House for homeless grandmothers and their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren.

Learn more about Roadmonkey Philanthropical Adventure www.roadmonkey.net and enjoy photos posted below.

Help me get rid of this music/noise!

I made what I thought was a clever slide show, and got stuck with this horrid music, which I can't control. It's not to my taste, nor does it fit this site. I managed to delete the slide, but the noise stayed! How do I get rid of it - anybody???

WHAT A SAFARI!

Wow!

How do you pack a orphans' house dedication, film premiere, East African cultural immersion, safari where you witness a male lion with his head inside a giraffe he's just killed, plus an exploration of exotic Zanzibar --- into just 10 days?

Well, 17 Americans, Swedes and a Brit just did it, on our first Bibi Jann Tour in February 2009.

Most of the travellers were good friends, and have helped build our school and now bibi house. What a great group of people!

Here's what some had to say about visiting our Bibi Jann project in the village of Mbagala, Tanzania:

LIZ: You have achieved so much, but there is clearly a need for more financing. The enthusiasm of the children shows how lazy and complacent we are in the west. We take our education for granted and don’t value the opportunities we have assuming that even if we don’t make an effort we will be taken care of. I have taught for 30 years in England and Sweden and never seen such joy in learning or so many white shirts!! How do they do it without water or electricity? Coming home I really see my home in a different light having seen how proud they are of so little.

GLENNIS: What I liked best? Meeting Bibis and the school children in the village, something one couldn’t expect during an “ordinary” tour.

JEAN: Awesome. I will carry images of the village, the school, the homes, the people in my heart forever. I want to return. Everywhere I met wonderful people.

ANDREE: This is what makes your trip so special; getting an in-depth view of life in the village, meeting the bibis and the kids; seeing how everything you’ve done has helped change their lives. I think it would be great to spend a couple of days helping teach the kids or doing crafts with the bibis – it would make the experience even more meaningful.

JUDY: "Educaton, Education is the Gateway!" Clearly the children enrolled at Bibi Jann's school are fervent believers in their school's motto. Watching the bright faces of the children as they entertained the "dignitaries" with songs sung proudly about their school brought smiles to our faces and pride to our hearts. Yes, the buildings are simple by our standards and there is more need than you can fathom whichever way you look, but the overriding impression that I and my family took away was not of despair, but of joy. The smiling faces. The small hand slipped into yours as you're walking down the street. The beaming faces of the Bibi's as they sang their welcome. Such warmth.

All of us were in the village for the dedication of soon-to-be finished Gerrit Brokx/FAWCO House, which will house five grandmas ("bibis") and their orphans families. The Dutch (Brokx)trust and American women's clubs world-wide build this complex - with a big hand from the Wicklow, Ireland Rotary club and generous individuals. Karel van Kesteren, Dutch ambassador to Tanzania, presided at the deication and ceremonial tree-planting. Plus prayers from a Muslim iman and two Christian pastors, dancing and singing by the orphans and a feast for everyone present!

The complex consists of individual bedrooms for bibis and kids, a dorm for the older boys, toilets, a big livingroom/meeting/work space for all 24 of our bibis, a detached kitchen, guest rooms, and four small stores along the street for bibis to conduct their businesses.

The same evening back in Dar, we held the world premiere of "GRANDMOTHER TO GRANDMOTHER: New York to Tanzania" by Old Dog Documentaries (go to their website to buy a copy!). What a delight to hear some 80 orphans shout and cheer as they spoted themselves and their friends in the movie! We hope the film will air on public television.

The premiere shared the spotlight with an exhibit of Tanzanian quilted wallhangings by Bibi Jann Designs (that's me). We sold about one-third of them, and the bibis sold their crafts and food, bringing in over $1,000.

The trip was so successful - and others wanted to come but couldn't then - that we'll be doing another. Think it would be especially interesting to do a specialized one for fabric fiends - creating batiks alongside the bibis and taking lessons in applique from a women's co-op on Zanzibar.

Check out photos at the bottom!

INAUGURATION DAY LETTER

Hello Friends! As I write this here in cold, cold Sweden, I'm glued to the inauguration day ceremonies on CNN. I was inspired to write a letter to my children and grandchildren to define what this day means to me - as a person who recalls the terrible strife on the part of black Americans to achieve their rights, and a an American living in Europe and working in Africa.

Here is that letter:

January 20, 2009
Barak Obama’s Inauguration Day

My Dearest Children and Grandchildren (for you to print and save),
All of you are aware that today is a special day: the first African-American will be sworn is as President of the United States. It’s an historic moment.
Yet I wonder if you can realize just how historic, and what it means from my perspective of 64 years.
The TV, magazine and newspaper images I saw as a young woman of integration efforts in the south are unforgettable: Four little girls dead in a black church bombing. White men and women – mothers, yet – shouting and spitting on little black children as they walked to their first day in what had been an all-white school. Snarling dogs attacking demonstrators. A white woman shot as she marched in protest.
All these people wanted, black and white, were for all Americans to enjoy the same rights promised by our constitution.
You know my father was politically conservative, and he dismissed Martin Luther King Jr. as a Communist, meaning it was all some kind of a plot and therefor meaningless.
In my heart, I longed to join those marchers, those protestors and make a difference. But I’d married young and had babies, so I couldn’t hop on a bus and head for the south.
Ironically, tomorrow I’ll jump on a plane for East Africa to prepare for the tour of Americans and Swedes I’m leading, organize the dedication of the house we’ve built for AIDS orphans and their grandmas raising them, buy shoes with donor money so kids can attend school, and get ready for world premiere of the film documentary about our GRANDMA-2-GRANDMA project.
It seems only yesterday that I marveled as you, my daughters, chanted the old childhood rhyme of “Eeny Meeny, Miny Mo” … but caught a tiger by the toe. I was promoted to “correct” you and raise the N-word we’d chanted. But then I caught myself, realizing how symbolic this word change was in just one generation.
I never dreamed I’d become known as Bibi Jann, working with AIDS orphans in Tanzania, where I’ve seen the excitement about Obama’s election. Living abroad, and being “out here” in the world, it’s obvious how much the politics of our country affects others around the globe. Electing a half-black man, who has so inspired Americans and others, shows that we’ve come a long way, indeed. Our country’s constitution and all it promises as an example to the world shines bright today, and I’m proud to be an American.
It’s easy to take that all for granted when you live in the U.S. It’s easy to spout “We’re the greatest” without reflecting on what that means. It’s easy to become arrogant, to think that we always know what’s best for the world – as our last president did – and become hated for it.
Since moving to Europe, some of you have accused me of “hating America.” My response was that patriotism is NOT about believing whatever our government tells us, but about ensuring that our government adheres to the tenets of the Constitution. I’m the first person to feel tears when I hear our National Anthem, but after today I’m not embarrassed or ashamed to admit while traveling that I am American.
Know that today – half a world away from you in Sweden – I’m glued to the inauguration on CNN, hopeful that because of Barack Obama, the United States of America and the entire world will be a better, safer place for you to grow up and grow old in.
His election is the legacy of the black Americans who protested, the white Americans who marched beside them. And I like to think I’m a part of them now, helping African children find their way out of poverty and disease through education.
Daughters and son: Raise your children to respect others, stand up for what’s right and never take their educational opportunities – or citizenship – for granted. Grandchildren: Help make our world a better place each day by doing something good, whether it’s being a good friend, getting a good grade, picking up some litter or righting a wrong.
Like President Obama says, WE are the change this world needs.
Love,
Your Mom and Grandma
Jann Mitchell
Stockholm, Sweden