\merry Merry Christmas and the very best to everyone in 07....thank you for sending me such wonderful messages, missing family and friends at this time..even on a Safari..which is 'journey' in Swahili..five days lurching, jerking, bumping, and cruising through the most beautiful country imaginable down dirt mud roads weaving between fields of a sea of green grass, lions lying by the side of the road swishing their tales in leisure, slowly turning their heads when we appear...they don't go after Land Rovers or Cruisers..but if anyone as much as clicks their door to get out, they stand immediately, for the kill.....giraffe's my favourite, i had no idea how graceful, elegant they are, tall moving slowly through the forest, usually with four of five, chewing on upper trees, their markings blending in with the bark of some trees. and on to the cheetahs, most interesting, small, the size of a bulky lab dog, alert, erect, on guard, always watching, stalking an antelope, a gizelle, something through the tall grasses, they often work in teams, fascinating to watch...Zebras running or grazing in herds of hundreds...some alongside the stampede of Wildebeests, millions of them migrating south at this time, racing, running, bolting from our car as we weave our way through them, the zebra alongside to alert for danger..always the predators, always the lions to watch out for....elephants lumbering in families of four to ten across plains deep down the 2000 foot descent from the rim of NgoraNgora lurching and picking our way through onto the floor of the crater itself where these animals live wildly and peacefully, flamingos, a wide strip of pink seen from a distance looking like a long sandy beach...the one rhino, very rare, there are only 12 left here, after poachers massacred with guns before Tanzania and Kenya realized the merit in conservation of parks and their inhabitants. tho interestingly there are still hunters lead by the Bush family from Texas who come regularily to parts of these parks donating large sums of money to keep their hobbies intact, shooting with a guide close at hand the buffalos who fall when first hit to the ground, playing possum until the hunter comes close to celebrate his kill..then jump up and retaliate terribly I am told....Christmas eve for me was in a small blue puptent my sleeping head inches from a huge downfall of rain and cold, very cold....on the top of the NGORANgora Crater...and on to the Serengeti, which means wide neverending plane..hours and hours of beasts, running in herds,ambling by themselves..our first elephant dashed out the forest as if being chased by something only a short distance from our car, its ears wide and fierce - i was shocked, so stunned i didn't jump up and take a picture, wondering if we were to be stampeded over....he stood there motionless for a good fifteen seconds then dashed back into the bushes, huge and magestic, remaining always this way in the picures of my mind....

Talked to my kids last night from a house without electricity a faulting flashlight shining dimly onto a handful of phone cards scratched with the code of blessed converstion with these who i miss so much at this time....being on safari, and being so far away, remembering the places and people i have known here..heartbreaking messages from one of babiesout there with nothing to eat, no milk left - messages of despair....messages of hope too, of love, of peace, of joy..lots of time to remember, remember xmas' past...loved ones...out here so far away from everyone so familiar to my life, another world...wondering what can be done...someone heard Steven Lewis on tv the other night, imagining him up for a Nobel Peace prize...here people have remarked\; "he knows more about us than we know ourselves!!" and these people working in the field...

I prefer being a worker here..than a tourist...will be glad to see the new year in, with another village to work in....to greet Lindsey on the 11th, who will give workshops herself in acting, improv, translated in Swahili..so looking forward to her visit...and then on to into the middle of Kenya for a few weeks before coming home...again, i am blessed to have this opportunity, cannot thank ICA Canada for giving me this experience, this journey....

be well everyone..i wish you the very best for 07..and look forward to seeing you at home...one minute to go on this machine..\happy new year!!