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Welcome to my site everyone!



Please browse around and learn abit about me and the work I'm currently doing in Tanzania.



the winds of change

So the weather is getting cooler here. We're settling into "winter". The nights are cool. I wear long pants, a long sleeved shirt and use a sheet and blanket to keep warm... not too bad. It's amazing how I've acclimatized. The temperature drops to 18 and I'm grabbing a sweater!! (Thank you Richard for leaving yours here.) Someone the other day was telling me that it was unfortunate that I'm coming back in the fall and missing the summer. I'm actually really excited about it. I love the beginning of autumn, you know when the fall colours are at their brightest and it's still warm enough to wear a sweater and jeans. Love it!

This week has been crazy so far! On Monday, Ruth, our lead actress pulled out. We had already decided to redo most of the scenes from last week (we're on a steep learning curve) so the timing of getting a new lead, if we had to get one, was Monday. As mentioned in a previous post, Ruth's sister died a few weeks ago. Ruth is the only financial responsible one in her family so she now has to support her parents and her sister's children. Working on our project would only offer 2 months of stability. Her boss, from the job she was quitting, offered her a raise. She made a tough choice to honour her parents. We'll miss her.

Today, our new lead actress arrived. Her name is Liz and she's from Kenya. She came to Arusha to live with her sister when things became unstable in Kenya. She auditioned for the role and when she didn't get it, offered to come volunteer in any aspect for the movie. But first she needed to go back to Kenya to apply for a proper passport. It took her 6 weeks or more. She almost gave up, and almost took a new job but when she received a call on Monday, from Nadine, telling her that she would be the lead, she tried once more. After weeks of being told by the officers to "come back next week" she got an appointment with someone who ended up knowing her uncle (who died in 1989!) and she received her passport that day!

Today, was also our second first day of shooting. :) Since we've got a new lead, it was like day one all over again. I love that now both Joel and Brad are planning shoots and filming. They make a good team! Between the two of them I know we're gonna get some great stuff!




blast from the past

Brad, his wife Angie and son Boston arrived safely! They had great travels and arrived with all their luggage.

Today, while working, Brad asked me if I still had nice handwriting. It's true I do. Funny that's what Brad remembers about me from Public School. See Brad and I were in the same grade at Grey Central in good ol' Ethel. We've had something like two hi-and-bye's since Grade 8. It's interesting to see where our lives have taken us to get to the point where we're now working on the same project in Tanzania! It's pretty cool.




I'm back... well I never really left

Ok, so I haven't written in, like... forever! :)
So here's a quick rundown of the last 7 weeks or so. I'm sure I've missed things but you get the gist.

April 4 - Went out to the local cinema. It's been open for about a year. Our new friends Joseph & David joined us. We watched Sweeny Todd. It's an odd musical but I really enjoyed it.

April 9 - We cast our lead characters. Ruth as Ndoto, Ebenezer as Imara, Rita as Pekee, David as Kilele, Anna as Bibi, Rebecca as Nyota and Yaeli as Tamu.

April 10 - Joseph stops showing up to work to plan the choreography.

April 11 - Discover that Joseph (and David) haven't been coming because they've been practicing with their troop, Contagious, for a Dance Competition. It's cool with us because we assume it's a one time thing.

April 12 - The Dance Competition is tonnes of fun. They win. Plenty of gross, sweaty hugs all around.

April 13th - Ruth's boss refuses to allow her to take her months vacation (required by law) and a month unpaid leave so she can't be available when we need her. Ruth has to decide what to do.

April 17 - Turns out the Competition could lead Contagious to London, UK if they do well at the next 2 competitions (one in Dar es Salaam and then one in Nigeria). So Joseph, David and David's brother Cliff (cast as an important dancer) quit.
Same day - Goodbye dinner for Justina at Khan's.

April 18 - Justina leaves. It's a sad day.

Same day - Kilele's role is recast with a different guy also named David. The schedule is completely reworked because it originally was centred around the other David's work schedule.

April 19 - Jo, Davin, Richard and I take the 12-2 am shift at the Russel's 24/7 Prayer Event.

Same day - All the Lead Characters gather in the Studio. Reality sets in... filming starts soon!!!

April 20 - After a week of practicing every night the Sowers plus Nadine, Jeremy, JoAnna and Skylar lead worship at Zion Temple in Arusha.

April 21ish - Ruth makes a tough decision to quit her good paying job.

April 24 - I finally finish the latest newsletter and send it out.

April 26 - In the wee-hours of the morning, Joseph is recognized as a member of Contagious and mugged. He puts up a fight and saved himself by putting his hand between his neck and a knife. His hand is sliced open. They say it'll be a year or more before it's back to normal.

April 29 - Davin's sister met an American girl, named Leah, on the daladala and directs her to us. She came and brought along her German friend Daniel. Leah is now helping with props and Daniel will perhaps help out as second camera man.

May 1 - Leah has a connection to a man named Taifa and brings him along for the day. Taifa is a dancer and will be helping Nadine with some of the smaller choreography sections.
Same day - Joel our cameraman arrives exhausted after 3 days traveling. We're late picking him up because there's a tree across the road and so the back roads need to be taken.

May 2 - 5 - Nadine, Joel and I hop on a plane to Zanzibar where we join the rest of crew who left 2 days ago.

May 3 - Richard heads back to Canada but not before his boat to the mainland takes triple the time it should and forces him along with a dozen others to miss their plane. Richard misses his first day of classes.

May 5 - We arrive home after a great vacation in Zanzibar.

Same day - During the night the "Exterior of Bibi's Duka" set falls flat because of the heavy rains. It is rebuilt using concrete this time, rather then mud.

May 6 - Paschal is hired to help us with calling people, taking messages and designing props.

May 7ish - Ruth's sister suddenly dies.

May 8 - Snail-mail! Yippee. My first piece of mail in months! Thanks Michelle!

May 10ish - A local restaurant owner puts us in touch with Tina, a Malagasy woman, who has opened a Dance Studio in town within the past few months. She is an amazing choreographer and has agreed to plan all the major dances before she leaves for the States in 8 weeks.

May 14 - A stagetruck, and integral prop, is found for us to use throughout shooting.

May 15 - First day of shooting. A night scene. The set looks great. It sinks in that we're actually doing this.

May 16 - Second day of shooting.

May 17 - Attempt to shoot but it's raining too much.

May 19 - Third day of shooting. Tonnes of rain! We're sliding in mud everywhere. We manage to get 6 of 8 scenes shoot.

May 20 - We cancel the rest of shooting for the week to give us time to regroup and completely revise the schedule because Ruth has to complete her contract which means she's not available until June 1.

May 21 - The schedule is completely revised. We begin shooting again on Monday.

May 22 - Word of increased witchcraft is being broadcasted. People are going missing even during the day. We've been confined to our base unless we're leaving in a vehicle.

May 23 - Brad, Angie and Boston arrive tonight!




updated link

sorry... the link for April's Newsletter hasn't been working. I've updated it so it works now!

I promise to write soon about what's been happening around here!

Until then,
Cynthia