Random Things While Waiting

Hi, everyone, and sorry I have been MIA for a few days. As I type this, I am sitting in the Washington Dulles Airport trying to kill off the two hours before my flight leaves for South Africa. Instead of killing brain cells by reading the US Weekly I just bought, I thought I would take a few moments to jot down some thoughts before I begin my 18 hour flight to Cape Town!!!

Carnivore Preservation Trust

Mike and I volunteered at the CPT this past weekend, and it was amazing. The organization is based in Pittsboro, NC, about a 35 minute drive from Durham. They have a large collection of tigers and smaller cats - most of whom are rescues from bad situations. Many people think they want a pet tiger - until it reaches about 300 pounds. A lot of the animals have been in abusive situations - living in garages, basements, declawed, harmed - bad situations. At CPT they try to give them the best life they could possibly have after leaving the poor situations in which they were found. I have a bunch of pics, but due to the rather slow wireless connection I have here in the airport, I can't post any. If you want to see them, just leave a comment and I will send you the link to the webalbum.

Oprah’s Schools in South Africa

If I hear one more person bad mouth Oprah for opening girls schools in South Africa, I am going to scream. “Why isn’t she building these schools in the United States?” Because if she were to build a school in the US for the penultimate purpose of giving young black women a better chance to succeed, all the right wing crazies in the US would claim “reverse discrimination” (which is a false term in itself – discrimination is discrimination – period) and raise all hell. Hundreds of years of colonialism have shown white people have done monumental damage to African people and African-American people. What Oprah is doing is much needed and will help raise an entire new generation of strong, confident African women. Africa’s potential of greatness lies in the amazing beauty of its people, and Oprah’s schools will only help make the young ladies fortunate enough to participate in this program stellar leaders in their communities and the world. I just wanted to voice my opinion on that whole subject.

My trip

I should be boarding my plane here in the next 45 minutes or so. I am scheduled to leave at 5pm from DC - and so far it appears that everything is running on time. I will get into Cape Town about 7:30pm on Wednesday, which is about 1:30pm EST in the US. Once I get in and settled, I will probably post and just say "HI, I MADE IT HERE IN ONE PIECE!"

For the first time, I brought a video camera with me to South Africa. If I can figure out how to get the movies from the camera to the computer, you may get treated to some video footage. I'm not promising that, though. I don't know if I am that technologically advanced. I also brough the ol' digital camera, so you should get some still photos as well - if the camera doesn't crap out on me. It has been a bit tempermental in the past few months.

Ok, folks, time to get all my stuff together and prepare for departure. I will be in touch soon!!!!