February 13 , 2005

Hi everyone,

We are now at Tembe Elephant Park and the BIG dudes are here in force. These guys are massive. Start watching the websites webcam (www.elecam.org). In the next week or so you are likely to see footage that yours truly filmed and edited. We have been on four game drives filming, but it takes a lot of raw footage to get 2 hours of edited footage.

We went to a local Marula Festival yesterday. We were guests of the local Tembe people's king and watched the ceremonial blessing of the marula beer by the king and important dignitaries from Swaziland. The maidens danced in honor of the queen and king, and ladies from the village were led in by the young warriors. Marula beer was carted in by drums, Tupperware, and oil jugs for this festive occasion. We were truly entranced by the genuine warmth of the Tembe people. I made friends with two toothless grandmas in the dancing circle, and we joined arms and stamped our feet. The ground shook to the beat of the drums. What a great day!!

As part of our volunteer work here at Tembe, we have been introduced to two of the local schools. We met with one of the principals (who is also a prince) regarding school needs. It turns out one of the local schools is partnered with a UK school, and they do a student exchange every year. Check out www.freewebs.com/ubungani to see info about their program.

So teachers .......... This is where you might be interested ......... And we could use your help ......

Is there any interest out there for a similiar exchange program between South Africa and the US??? Susana, how about your honors students doing a few weeks abroad in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa as part of their United Nations training? Does anyone have information or experience with establishing relationships and programs with schools overseas? Nancy, I figure you know your way around the school district. What do you think?

These kids range in age quite a bit even though they may be in the same grade. I was thinking an exchange of students in the age range of 16-19. These kids might be in a grade 8 here and actually at that level of study but obviously would probably exchange with kids in the states who were 11th or 12th graders. I think? We will get a better feeling for that tomorrow when we go to the school, but I thought I would start planting seeds and see what kind of interest there was amongst you guys and your classes and schools.

Now those of you that are passionate about sports programs are a needed ingredient in the potion. There was this guy from the LA area who was out here for a year, and he started a whole basketball program at one high school. He raised funds and built a court, got some sponsorship from NBA etc, etc. Well, he has since returned to the states. Check out his website (www.zuluhoops.org ) for more info. He started a really cool program that is now being run solely by the kids. This guy arranged to take these rural kids to Durban, the big city, to play in a basketball tournament. So now we are looking for ways to keep these kids and others involved. We were thinking of getting the groundwork started on building another court at another school so they could at least have each other to play. I have attached pictures of the court. Check out the website for how the school's roof was recently ripped off by a tornado so that the kids are attending classes under trees for now. If any of you guys have any brilliant ideas on fund raising or have NBA contacts etc...... please let me know. Oh yeah -what are the official dimensions for a B-Ball court anyway?

For the rest of you that are included in this special request e-mail, this is to keep you updated on our latest happenings and elicit some of your insights and ideas. Like Lou Lou, you are my college contact. Does CSULB sponsor 3rd world kids on any exchange programs, etc..? Elaine, I know your kids are too young but maybe the "Hollywood" crowd parents would be keen to sponsor a B-Ball court or hook it up somehow to the YMCA? Grace, do you have any contacts in the Silicon Valley world looking to sponsor a basketball court project to keep youth off the street? I think you get the picture.

This exchange program idea is in very early stages of discussion. We are really interested in what you all think of the viability of the idea. And what types of exchange might be possible. And what kinds of questions you have.

All is good here, but you can see it is going to be a very busy 3 weeks. We look forward to hearing from you guys. This could be a lot of fun working together to put a really cool program together.

Lots of Love,

Leah & Cindy

Tembe, South Africa - Check out www.zuluhoops.org to see how these kids in Kwazulu Natal ended up with a basketball court. They love it! (click on image for larger version)