Flights are booked!!!

Greetings once more, fair followers, friends and family!

Well, I’m about to be off again! Sailing (or flying, rather, but that doesn’t have quite the poetic ring) across the Great Pond as we Brits (I’m not British) call it. I have just purchased my return ticket to Tanzania and I will be leaving on February the 15th. I look forward to seeing my Tanzanian family again and getting back to work on some TEP projects.

Recently, I held a benefit concert for The Tanzanian Education Project at Clearwater Theatre in West Dundee, Illinois. I would not have been able to stage such a show without a lot of help from dedicated friends and family members. The event was held on December 29th, and we had a really good turnout. There were about 150 people there throughout the night and we managed to raise just under $1000! In addition to getting a percentage of the entrance fee, we also raffled off prizes that had been donated from local businesses. There were four musical acts: Brandon Rompa, Six Strings, The DILF’s and the Love Shots. All of performances were simply smashing and I am forever grateful to these talented musicians for dedicating their time to a great cause.

This brings my fundraising since I returned from TZ in August to the Great Midwest (it’s alright) to a little over $3,000. This is not yet enough to fund out water project, but with the help of other volunteers and dedicated TEP fans, I hope we will get the funds while I am in Tanzania.

In other news, we have a new recruit (volunteer)! Kristina Parthum, a dear friend of the original “TZ3”, and a colleague of mine from the WSU Women & Gender Studies Program, will be joining my on my second trip to Tanzania. This will be Kristina’s first trans-Atlantic journey, and let me tell you: her parents are petrified.

However, I have made infinite reassurances and I am so thankful we will have a new volunteer to help keep The Tanzanian Education Project plugging along. Now that I have my ticket in hand (metaphorically speaking, these days... the internet... you know how that goes), I am getting more and more excited about embarking on yet another adventure. There will be new and familiar friends to see, new challenges and great fun awaiting us, just there across the ocean.

More updates will follow as I continue to freak out about leaving the country (again) for the coming months. Mind you, I’m not worried about the travel or adventures; I am freaking about because really, what else do you do when you are planning a journey, work part-time, and have no interest in daytime television? Please continue to support the Tanzanian Education Project and keep in touch!

Tuta onana badaae... dude.
See you later... dude (does not translate).

xoxo
Eileen