Salama,
Just two weeks until departure! I have been getting ready for this day for the last six months.  Over that time I have tried to get myself into shape, work on my medical skills, and learn some Swahili. I also had to learn more about the latest water purification devices and a wide variety of other electronic gadgets.  It has been a very interesting process, and I look forward to learning more in all of these areas. Over the next two weeks I am also going to work on my cooking skills with an emphasis on beans, rice, and vegetables.  I have worked with all three before, but I definitely need a larger variety of recipes for Africa.

For those of you who don't know, I'll be working as a Community Health Volunteer in rural Tanzania for two years.  This will begin after the completion of 3 months of training and living with a host family.  I intend to chronicle my experiences as much as possible using this blog site, however, there is no guarantee that I will have access to the internet so entries will only be made when it's available.

This is really a test post to see if the blog site will actually perform the way we expect it to.  I'm hoping that a notification will be sent out to everyone who inputs their email address, and that there is no other useless emails generated by the process.  I am working with my daughter who is my technology expert to iron out the wrinkles.  If there are any problems, we have two weeks to get our act together.

If anyone wants to ask personal questions about any of this please don't hesitate to call or email me.  My phone will be working until sometime next week when I will have to unlock it, and I will keep my email address throughout the two years, but may not be checking it too often.

Asante sana
Brian