Stress, A Starving Kid and Birthday Squirrels

Listening to 'Old Enough to Rock and Roll' by Rainey from the soundtrack to the 1986 movie Iron Eagle-how obscure is that?? I loved that movie on VHS tape when I was um 12? Rambo for the teenage set. Something very therapeutic about 80's action movies, superhuman characters doing ridiculous things with one liners and somehow it all works out. Who needs 'skills exchange' or 'capacity building' in the fictional 80's world when you can just steal a jet fighter and force a developing country's government to accede to your demands...bliss.

I feel old some days. Like January 18th, my birthday.

I wasn't really looking forward to turning 33. Just kinda tired at the mo.

I took the day off work (there was no power there anyways) and spent the morning dealing with travel people back home convinced my use of a credit card over here to book flights back home was an African scam. Frustrating. But I guess credit card security is useful...

Had a nice luncheon at the Kili Java Cafe with the wife. She been treating me good on my special day. After lunch I hooked up with Dr Bob, my American chum and we drove out to Marangu (ie where the waterfalls are) on the slope of Kilimanjaro for a change of scene and man time. On the drive he told me about a sick/near death/neglected/abandoned/starving HIV/AIDS child he had seen that day in his village outreach work. Uplifting. Thanks Dr Bob. I filled in Dr Bob on some of the mechanisms that are supposed to exist (sigh) at the local level to help kids in serious trouble. If I can get some more details from Dr Bob ASAP, I can definitely get my NGO's contacts in the area to see what the heck is going on in the kid's home situation.

But yeah, so, so far I'm not in the best birthday mood.

We drove to the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort an overpriced, well, resort and sat in a lush garden drinking wine, watching the squirrels and sunbirds at play. It was really nice, quite relaxing. Drove back to Moshi with the panorama of the Pare' Mountains and the Masai Plateau at dusk off to the left of the car. Such a beautiful country. A fitting end to an appropriately Tanzanian birthday (ie beauty + frustration+ anger/guilt inducing tale involving children).

33 years old. Thanks for all your birthday wishes.

Love, gramps.