Jakey Jake

Friday 11th June
We spent today in kandi again, we were considering 3 nights here but with some deft maneauvering and sweet talking i managed to convince the others that it would be better spent with an extra night in zanzibar Anyway i got up early and went for a jog along the beach, just as i was begining 3 african guys decided to join me, obviously with an ulterior motive, but hey ive been in asia for 3 months so thats nothing new. Although it was pretty clear that they were only interested in selling me things i found it quite amazing that they would spend the whole 40 minutes running along side me, so i decided that since they were going to such extraordinary lengths for a sale, id give them one (albeit not mine ) Well we had breakfast and i managed to convince chris that he should get a painting (they were pretty good) so it wasnt that hard. We went back to the guys, who werent allowed near the campsite, which included the forshore, so we went down to meet them at the border of the camp and where it was a public area and made the deal. The guy hired by the campsite came along and started swinging his bamboo sticks at these poor kids who were only like 15 and they were only trying to get enough money to live. I was pretty shocked at that. This afternoon we had a tour of the local town by the local tribe leaders son. He showed us their houses, which were apparently the best houses in the area, needless to say they were crap. then he took us to the local clinic where we saw a 1 day old african baby. There was also some educational material on aids, as there is such a high incidence of aids in africa (alomst 25%) After taht we went to the local school and that affected us all in a pretty big way. These kids all had such big smiles and such incredible enthusiasm despite their situation. The girls were dancing and singing around the socer field while the boys played soccer. They were all so friendly and very eager to have their photos taken. It was really incredible. After that we met the chief who told us about current politics and how the local tribesmen worked to help withing their social systems. After our tour concluded we all went ack to the campsite for a refreshing game of volleyball which of course we won then it was time for a nice afternoon nap before heading out for dinner. Tomorrow was going to be another long drive so i took it pretty easy after doing some more exercising.