Sincere thanks to Dr. Joe Fortunak of Howard University and Dr. Stephen Byrn of Purdue University for allowing me to film their courses at the Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy. Thanks also to the director of the St. Luke's foundation in Moshi, Dr. Bernd of Germany for picking me up at the airport graciously hosting me, and to the lovely Sister Zita of Nigeria for her sincere kindness and guidance.
It was an honor meeting the visiting doctors of chemistry from all over East Africa. The brilliant minds of Africa’s finest will surely yield results against this horrible AIDS epidemic. I can't wait for all of you to see the footage being compiled for the grant and I'll have Dr. Byrn bring copies for all of you in August when he returns.
Morning in Moshi
During a morning walk around the town of Moshi, which is situated at the foothills of Kilimanaro, I was surprised to see many amputees and polio victims lined up in front of a factory gate. My interest was piqued. After some flapping of hands and digging through a Swahili dictionary, I soon was in the presence of a Mr. Shah.
In 1972 Mr. Shah had his factory, farm and ancesteral home nationalized. He was left with nothing but the clothes on his back. Whereas most businessmen and the upper class left the country, Mr. Shah chose to stay and rebuild his factory so he could keep the many polio victims and amputees who had worked as craftsman employed. Thanks to Mr. Shah for allowing me to film his factory and tell his story. I hope to produce a documentary of his life soon.
Of course no trip to Tanzania is complete without sneaking off to the Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti. Although staying at a hotel is prohibitively expensive on the Serengeti, camping is affordable. Monetarily, not emotionally. Listening to a lion kill 40 yards from your tent (while your guide sleeps in the Rover. Ha-ha!) strained the nerves of this mzungu. It's one thing to go camping in the Smokey Mountains while listening to a black bear rumble around in the trash. It's quite another to hear a lion purring as it rips open some animal outside your tent.
Hanging out with the Masai was also a highlight. These are some of the toughest, most resourceful people on earth and I hope we can do everything we can to preserve their culture. Drinking out of ostrich eggs, sucking blood out of cow’s necks, roasting meat over a fire, walking around the Serengeti with spear in hand—what a life. Out of this footage too, I hope to have a good feature documentary.