This page has been constructed to chronicle the 512 Collective's 2- man expedition in Southern Africa; a mission that entered the Operation Phase (i.e. arrival in Jo'burg) about thirty- six hours ago. While Justice has been holding things down here at the University of Witwatersrand for just over a week, my arrival on campus was crucial - I came packed with our camera, tripods, video decks, and much more that was needed before any 512 documentary production could commence.

For those who were not briefed on this mission beforehand, it is being conducted at the afore mentioned South African University between now and late June (during the prime weather here). Our primary objectives include the production of two extensive documentary films in South Africa and surrounding countries, as well as the recording and mastering of The 512 Collective Africa Sessions (a multiple- disc album featuring the established artists of the Collective as well as local musicians throughout the Johannesburg area). Justice will be rocking our first show tomorrow at an amphitheater on campus; word on the street is things will blow up after that.

But more on that stuff later. It's orientation week and the evening is setting on. Last night the party featured 1 rand (twenty- cent) vodka shots - the shit was way too nasty for drinking, but it made for a pretty wild scene... so I'll be busy all through the week and don't have my own computer set up here yet, but within a short period of time updates to this page will come every few days. Or so. We'll see if y'all can keep up.

Until your return, peace out .
DL Fitch,
512 Ambassador and Commandante of Information Technology

	Phaze 3 (a.k.a. Justice):

Things here are moving, and picking up speed fast. We got pictures of yesterday's show online; the first from a great quantity of multimedia this expedition will produce. The concert took place about 4 hours late - and the sun was killer - but the crowd stuck around and they were feeling the New York beats.

Reckoning time for our two documentaries came Tuesday, when we presented our ideas to the teachers in the TV department here. After Justice and I had gone through our respective pitches, there was a momentary pause... Would they go for it, or were the projects too big?

I'm happy to report that they were fully and 100% down, and that we both have been stacking resources at a furious pace ever since. Prepare for some shit to be rocked - but once again, I put off my blogging until the evening, and duty calls at a party down the street. Details on these immense projects will have to come later...

I await your imminent return,

DL Fitch,
Black Belt Grand Champion

Yesterday we cruised a taxi to a mall in one of the Johannesburg suburbs - they ride in these big Toyota vans and cram about fifteen people into each one. You have to make sure you get one that's heading your direction, then all the passengers work out the fair between themselves on the way (it's about fifty cents a ride).

Anyway, I got back to my room and the housekeepers had come through and cleaned up all my crap. I mean, I knew that we had a maid service, but I figured they would just take out the garbage, change our sheets and what- have- you. And that much alone is more than any college student deserves as far as I'm concerned - but they even did my dishes! I'm gonna have to try hard not to take advantage of this...

The ridiculous cheapness of food also contributes to our baller life here. South Africans apparently love fruit juice, and you can get bottles of it fresh- squeezed in almost any variety. It costs about a buck for a liter and a half. There's also these cheese pies that you get three of for the same amount (7 rand, which is about $1 US). They've got this flaky crust and a chronic cheese filling, and are all fried up - I can't think of anything better than fried cheese. In fact.... they close at 5:30 so I think I'm gonna jet over there now. Peace.

The Fitchinator

So, I've been working on this Sci- Fi film that I shot in New Mexico last summer, and I'm trying to finish it up while I'm here in Africa... thus I had to pay a few hundred dollars to ship my spankin'- new, Apple G5 out here so I can finish editing. We were told that NYU (the school that sent us here) was also sending us a bunch of equipment including a G4 laptop, but when we asked out teacher at the school about it today, he said NYU had changed their minds and we were getting a G5 instead. When I told him there was another one already in the mail for me, I could just see the disgust on his face. They've got a whole department that has to share just a few eMacs, and now the Americans roll through with TWO G5s. We're such spoiled shits...

:[Justice thinks to himself]:
--Well as the first week of classes slowly moves thru; I suppose I should to get on the digital bandwagon. The exceptional response from the "blog community" as well as the convenience of the digital postings finds me seated in front of my faithful workstation, relaxing on this Thurs. afternoon.
--Things here are still proceeding well. Classes are....Theoretical. We learned today that the poor Wits students don't even get to touch a camera until 3rd year, and its an analog hi-8 camcorder at that.....One of the many disparities between the local students and the NYC contingent.
--Alter Ego: Phoenix.3 will rise again this Saturday for some of that cupid Valentino shit that we love: the Valentines day show. Hosted at a local club in the student dominated part of town, I am looking forward to rockin the mic solid and expanding the rapidly growing 512 Collective Fan-club. Everyday I meet three more people that are dying to rock a show w/ me; produce a track w/ me or just chill with Luke and I...crazy.
[:Quality of Life: High:]

:Justice
--aka--
:Phaze 3 the Phoenix
:512 Collective International Ambassador

:Terminate : Dispatch:

Alright, so I know we've been talking about these documentaries the 512 is doing while we're here. I'll let Justice pitch his own film, but here' s the lowdown on mine.

A little background... The UN World Food Program has been feeding a fairly large percent of the population in Southern Africa in recent years due to a severe drought - particularly in Zimbabwe, but Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi are also among the countries affected. Somehow, the WFP was unable to secure their full $300 million budget for the area this year (they got about half), and sometime in March the food will start running out. The program, which is funded by various countries including the US, requested only about $50 for each of the 6 million people receiving aid. The 'humanitarian' effort in Iraq, by way of comparison, has spent (in one year) $5,500 per Iraqi civilian - and we won't even take into account the fact most didn't want the help in the first place.

The basic objective of my documentary is to portray this blatant inconsistency in our country's distribution of international aid. The WFP offices in Southern Africa are located in Johannesburg, so I should have easy access to those who administer the food distribution throughout the area. One of my teachers at Wits has contacts with their offices, and he is helping me in that respect.

The majority of the film, however, will be shot outside of South Africa. One student that lives in our building is from Zimbabwe and called his family 'ruling class'. He's willing to take us around when we go up there, a welcome offer since the US Travel Agency recently issued a travel warning for the country. The objective in Zim is to portray the situation where it is the worst (the country produced only 40% of their required food last year), and hopefully to also get the Government of President/Dictator Mugabe's take on the situation. They were recently expelled from the Commonwealth over concerns that Mugabe's election was rigged, which has further hurt the country's devastated economy. So, lots to explore up North, it just depends on how long we can afford an armed driver. Can't do much if the cameras get jacked...

I also have trips to Lesotho and Swaziland planned, where the situation is a little less intense. This will allow us to really get in and talk with the people who are affected, and to explore these issues with much more depth than would be safe in Zimbabwe. I have other leads that I am following up in regard to these expeditions.

So... yeah, it's a big mo- fo of a project, to put in bluntly. I've been making far more progress than I expected these past 10 days, so as long as we keep up the pace it'll be all good. You know where to come for updates, and in four months we'll see if I bit off more than I can chew...

Until next time,
DL Fitch... over and out.

So tBlog changed up their log- in systems and now I can't access my site... 'Cookies' don't really work as well here in South Africa, and the server just rejects my password (I can just imagine the problems I'll have when trying to post out of Zimbabwe when I get up there...). Luckily it turns out I can still use this Internet Cafe, but definitely a hurting situation overall - and the reason we haven't been able to do any 'blogging in the past week. I'll I can say is it's not my fault.

In other news... well, to be honest you guys actually missed a pretty boring week. Ha ha, just kidding, it's never boring here - but it has been raining a bunch. We're going up to one of the national parks this weekend to see lions and giraffes and all that typical Africa shit, so hopefully the weather will lighten up a little before then. The big news is the launch of our website, 512collective.org. We finally bought our domain and set up a site, though construction is still in progress. Check it out and let us know what you think, and I apologize now for all the dead links. Wait a week if you would rather see the site in a more complete form. Justice and a local R&B singer have recorded the first track of the 512 Collective 'Jo'bug Tapes', and that track will go up as soon as we have a final mix. We'll let you guys know when that happens, and we've got some pictures and stuff for you as well. Check back soon...

DL Fitch
Angry tBlog User

Well Ladies and Gentleman,
I am glad that I can finally report back to my people. As you know our access to the tblog site was lost right after Luke (DL Fitch) and I had planned to post our Doc Summaries. Many of my constituents have been eager to hear what I have in store for my work in South Africa. Both of our documentaries (like much of our work) provide a keen eye into the political structures that are supporting (or not) the social structures in Southern Africa. While Luke's piece explores the needs of the African people from the most fundamental levels: food and nourishment, my documentary looks at a very different type of human need: faith.

My film will be focusing on the power of faith principles as a means for political action. Tracing the development of Liberation Theology from its roots in Latin America to its practical application under the apartheid regime, the narrative of my personal spiritual journey interweaves itself with the narrative of the peoples struggle, and the spiritual guidance that enabled them to continue the fight for freedom. And now ten years into a democratic government, I find that in SA many youth have lost their passion for politics, no longer are the schools a hotbed of resistance and protest. Liberation Theology, and Black Theology, are again charged with the task of supporting the people, in creating an equal and democratic world, in the face of continuing social injustices. As part of the objective in exploring democracy, the film will also cover the SA elections happening later this year, and the role of theology as a means for discourse on this subject. Using South Africa as the model for a strong theology of liberation, the third and final act of the doc brings the whole movement back to our homeland. After 300+ years of democracy, America is still suffering from rampant racism, economic and gender oppression. The same questions posed to South African theologians, are also asked of our ecumenical community in the U.S. What can we do to increase our quality of life? What does our faith teach us about liberating ourselves? Must we suffer in order to reach heaven? Or can earth be a peaceful, and just experience.

The goal of the film is to re-ignite the dialogue on theology as a tool for liberation. Liberation is a principle that translates into all languages, and spans across all faiths. Whether we believe in god or not, we must recognize that the masses of the population that have given themselves to a religious faith, are needed for our movement. Many of the most severely oppressed people in the world are god fearing, and suffering in the name of the lord. Even for Muslims, Jews, Unitarian Universalists, Buddhists, Hindus, all of our religious faiths fundamentally want to uplift their people. But if all people become our people and the goal of peace, justice, and freedom become universal faith principles, hopefully we can start getting some shit done in this world together.

So its a big mo-fo project to put it bluntly.....and it gets even bigger...we will be taking a version of the doc on tour this summer starting on the West Coast of the U.S. in June. But more on the tour schedule coming soon....


Justice.3

"From the most affluent sections of Paris to the slums of Calcutta, urban populations depend on long- distance transport for food, so that every pound of food consumed is accompanied by several pounds of petroleum consumption, pollution, and waste. The urbanized economy is not a product of efficiency but of massive subsidies - tax breaks and direct payments to global corporations and public financing of long- distance transport and communications infrastructures, energy installations, and massive military power to keep recalcitrant communities in line."

-Helena Norberg-Hodge
From Global Monoculture:
The Worldwide Destruction of Diversity

Good stuff for my doc.

This just came out from the BBC:

Zimbabwe 'seizes US cargo plane'

A US-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries on board has been impounded in Harare, Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has said.

The Boeing 727-100 was held on Sunday after it had "made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Mr Mohadi said.

He said the plane was carrying mercenaries of differing nationalities and "military material".

A spokeswoman from the US embassy in the Zimbabwean capital could not confirm or deny the reports.

Mr Mohadi told a news conference that the plane was detained at 1930 local time (1730GMT) at Harare International Airport.

He said the plane was carrying "64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities". and "military material".

The minister said an investigation was under way to establish the men's identities and their "ultimate mission".

Journalists were not able to see the plane as Mr Mohadi said it had been moved to a military base.

It was also not immediately clear what has happened to those on board the plane.

The BBC is banned from entering Zimbabwe and so its correspondents were not at the news conference.

Alistair Leithead, reporting from South Africa, said there was no independent verification of the government's claims.

The US embassy in Harare said the Zimbabwean Government had not communicated with them about the plane.

Our correspondent said the incident was "intriguing", given that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly accused the US and Britain of plotting to overthrow him.

After 5 hours in a van the size of a VW bus with 16 other people, we arrived in Maseru - the capital of Lesotho - last night. Despite the thunder and rain, the windy road, and the occasional hydroplaning, the driver kept his cool the whole way and we made it alive. Can't wait till the drive home...

We showed up at the Anglican Center an hour after they closed, but we were able to talk them into giving us a room. Nothing fancy, but it only cost us about $8 a piece.

So... some of you are probably wondering right now, "What is this Lesotho they speak of?" Lesotho is a country the size of Belgium that has the distinction of being the only nation completely surrounded by another country (S. Africa). It also has the highest lowest point of any country, as it is basically one big mountain range.

So we're pretty sure no one has ever posted a blog from this country, although we are making that claim without any verification... but whatever. We're heading out into the more rural areas today, and hope to get working on Luke's documentary in a town called Quithing. We're looking forward to some nice hikes through the mountains, and will let you all know how it goes - probably when we get back into Maseru Sunday night and can post the second tBlog post from Lesotho... ever.

DL Fitch & Just.ice.3
the dynamic duo

Wow. Our Lesotho expedition went so well I could probably cut my whole documentary with the 5 hours of footage we shot in just four days - I would say around 250% of my objectives for the trip were accomplished. I am going to be throwing away so much good stuff when I have to edit this all down to a 45- minute film...

Where to start... Just after posting our previous blog, Justice and I swung by the cafeteria at the UN House for lunch. On our way out, we decided to drop in to the World Food Program offices, even though they hadn't responded to any of my e-mail queries and we didn't have an appointment. Turns out, they were extremely helpful and the lack of communication did not at all represent a deficiency in their support of the production. Unfortunately, it was late in the day and there weren't any food distributions scheduled for the weekend, but said they would do everything they could if we dropped by Monday morning before returning to Joburg.

We then went to catch a taxi into a fairly remote town called Malealea, which cost almost a whole $2... The road turned to dirt as we got higher and higher into the mountains (it was breathtaking), and we started passing donkeys loaded up with big 'USAid' bags of food as we neared our destination. We realized that the WFP was still finishing up their distributions in the area, and jumped out of the taxi when we saw a crowd of people at two big freight trucks. I was able to film some great footage of the food being distributed, and we conducted a few really good interviews with some of the villagers as well.

It was getting late as the trucks finished up and departed, but we lucked out when a man named Thabo invited us into his home for the night. The next morning we were showed around town, and even ate a meal cooked from some of the donated corn meal. Two kids that were around 10 escorted us a few miles down into one of the canyons (one of them barefoot the whole way), and then took us upriver to a waterfall. It was beautiful, a lot like my home in New Mexico only everything was green...

We spent Saturday night in the rustic Malealea lodge, and cruised back to Maseru the next day. I called up the sister of my 6th grade teacher, who happened to live in the city, and she took us into her home for the night. We spent the evening with her friends and neighbors talking and drinking Black Label, 'America's Lusty, Lively Beer'. (Anyone ever heard of it? People here don't believe me when I tell them we actually have never even seen the stuff stateside...). Good times.

First thing the next morning, I hit up the WFP offices just as they were opening. It was great, they fired up one of their spiffy Toyotas and chauffeured me all around the area. First we visited the main food warehouse, where a substantial percent of the country's vittles are stored. After that, they took me to an elementary school where food was being distributed to orphan children (a pretty large chunk of the student body, and a powerful reminder of the country's AIDS crisis). It was unreal - I was the only white person for miles around, and I was surrounded by hundreds of kids that didn't speak English and had never seen a video camera in their lives. Standing in that schoolyard was one of the strangest experiences of my life, but the WFP was totally supportive of me documenting the whole event so I just turned on the camera and focused on shooting. It got difficult when 400 kids were competing for my attention, but the school master kept them in check with his leather whip. Of course, I felt guilty whenever that happened, so in the end I just stood casually next to the tripod and pretended like the camera was off whenever I could.

After my batteries started running low and I had almost filled up the last of our video tapes, I was taken back to the offices where I quickly interviewed the WFP Deputy Country Director with the last few minutes we had left in the city. As soon as I finished the interview and switched off the camera, Justice and I headed over to the border and caught one of the last taxis back to Johannesburg just in time.

Mission accomplished!

DL Fitch,
Over and out.

So we flew into Cape Town from Jo'burg this morning, and have been exploring the city for the last few hours. It's not that exciting - definitely no Lesotho... We haven't gotten that deep into all, however, so I'm in no place to judge.

Eh, there's a few nice aspects of white tourist centers. Namely the food. Beaches are good. Quite a few blondes... Justice is working a few connections for his project here, so hopefully we'll have something more substantial than tourist attractions to report about in the next few days. Anyway, I just wanted to touch base with y'all, here from the southernmost point of the African continent...

DL Fitch

Just arrived back from Cape Town myself, and I've come home with much better perceptions than Fitch. The extra 3 days that I spent provided a million valuable connections, but unfortunately it wasn't the most beneficial shoot for my film. I had a long list of people to catch up with, and managed to speak with every one of them which was the larger success of the trip. I would have liked to have locked down their interviews this weekend, but as things unfold, it looks like my next two trips to the Cape will be jam packed with the interviews of most of the key players in my movie. I was pleased and honored to observe the celebrations for Human Rights Day, one of SA's biggest holidays. In addition to keynote speakers, the crowds packed the stadium with their singing voices and joyous smiles. It was quite the welcoming to Cape Town.

All the business aside, the 512 Collective Africa team is up to our necks in dope ass projects. The rest of our week looks something like this: I will be once again dominating the stage at a local club in Jo'burg. "Tonight," the first single off the forthcoming 512 Album "Jozi Tapes" will be the featured track at the show, but I will also entertain with the regular hits. On friday we have our first SA Television appearance, on a youth oriented program that hosts local artists. It should be some great exposure, and I am looking forward to showing my face in front of the camera, after all the work these past two weeks... We are also gonna start shooting our first short film since we have arrived in Jo'burg. It's an experimental piece that walks between the real world and a mystical train station to create a metaphor that explores the AIDS crisis. It is a collaboration with 13th Floor productions, a local production company, and is bound to be a success.

...and then we breathe; as we count our funds for the upcoming intense weekend, we realize our combined wallet is about R60 (damn, just short of ten dollars)... then we gasp.

Friday signals the last day of school before a 3 week break. When we finally catch our breath we will be on the train early next week to Mozambique. We will relax on the beach for a few days, rock a show, then move on to Zimbabwe and attend to some business we have there... but all that is a glimpse from the future, and I'm sure you'll get a beautiful view as we see it. Keep up at the site:

[link]]

Until then,

Reverend Ambassador: Just.ice.3

[DL Fitch is standing by...]

This week will long be remembered as the day 512 operations in Africa reached the flash-point, exploding into a relentless barrage of media output.

All morning today was spent at a local TV studio, where the Collective represented on a Hip- Hop show called CrazE (with a viewership of around 2.5 million). Justice squared off in a freestyle competition between a South African MC and an artist who came down from the UK, and we were also able to educate the audience a little on the goals of the 512.

However, today we were just getting our feet wet as far as South African TV is concerned. We finalized the deal to appear on another local show that focuses on movies in a couple of weeks, and I'll be able to represent with the trailer for my nearly- completed Sci-Fi movie The Overmind of Sahar IV. By that point, we should also have a good chunk of our two documentary projects finished, so we can give the local SA audience a taste of what we're doing in their territory. We've also made the connections for a 512 appearance on a show called 20 Something, which focuses on South Africans in their 20s and the issues that relate to them. They interviewed the two of us a little when we were over at the studio today, but soon we'll have the chance to appear on the show as guests and describe the mission of the 512 Collective in detail.

On top of that, we spent some of the day assembling equipment for this short film we're shooting this weekend. As Justice mentioned earlier, the project focuses on the AIDS crisis that is exploding here, and we will adapt the remarkable reconciliation strategies that South Africa developed after the fall of Apartheid to address this pressing issue that faces the region today. We're collaborating with a local actor named Sami Sabiti, who happens to be the original host of American Idol (it was a South African show called just Idols before Fox came through and brought the whole shindig stateside). He's given us his full support in getting the shoot together, and has endless connections to people involved in the film and TV industry here. Definitely a valuable 512 affiliate while we're in SA, and he'll be regrouping with us in NY after doing a show for the Discovery channel this Summer.

But that's not all. We've got radio interviews with the two largest Johannesburg radio stations lined up as well, and they're both gonna happen on Saturday. Yes, 512 tracks will soon proliferate the SA airwaves, and the shows we rock will just get bigger and bigger. According to Sami, The 512 Collective will be a household name when we leave South Africa in June. We'll see about that one, though I'm not gonna rule it out...

Well, I've got lots more news to report, but I think I hit on all the big topics. We're about to depart for this vacation in Mozambique and a shooting expedition in Zimbabwe, and I'll sling you some details on that in a day or two. Until next time,

This is DL Fitch signing out.

[terminate transmission]

Our shoot yesterday went excellent - both of our lead actors came through with top- notch performances, and everything we laid to tape looks beautiful. I've got hours of editing and visual effects work ahead of me before the film is anywhere near finished, but everything we've got so far looks great.



Our location was an abandoned train station right in the center of Johannesburg. It made for a beautiful set, and we made full use of it during our 7 hours of shooting. I was sent scrambling up a ladder and was able to squeeze my self through a window onto the roof at one point, so we got some great shots from above. Despite the constant generator failures killing our lights, we tore through the script and got down everything we set out to shoot.



The script was co- written by myself, Justice, and our actor Sami, and Justice and I co- directed it. It was really the first implementation of the 512's collective method of narrative film production, and it worked perfectly. The point where we had a version of the script that the three of us could agree upon was a milestone, and when we started shooting the collaboration was even stronger. The individual creative forces on the set never clashed, and everyone was quite satisfied at the end of the day. As our next few weeks are booked solid the film is on hold for the moment, but you guys will see a finished product within a month or two. Standby...

DL Fitch

Well. we've officially started Easter Break (3 whole weeks), and it's already booked solid. Here's a rough breakdown of what we currently have planned:

Tomorrow we leave by train for Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. We'll lay around on the beach for four or five days, then head up to the city of Beria. The port there is one of the major logistical hubs of the World Food Program, so I'm going to try and shoot some footage for my doc while were there.

The next day (big breath)... we head to Harare, capital of Zimbabwe. Challenge One is crossing the border: foreign journalists are banned, and we'll have a pretty nice video camera with us. We're going to try and pass off as tourists, and if that fails we'll pull out the phone numbers for the WFP offices in Harare and hope they can talk us out of it.

Assuming we make it into the city, we'll stay the night at a fairly nice backpackers lodge - swimming pool, food, even internet for tblogging. All the luxuries come at a price, unfortunately - we'll be paying a whopping $6 US per night (or 4,800 Zimbabwe dollars, if you happen to like big numbers).

The next day is when the fun part of the trip begins. We will rendezvous with the WFP and they're gonna help me start shooting. With the Zimbabwe government prohibiting journalism, we'll only really be able to film anything when the WFP is actively distributing food - and even then it will be a little shady since we're not actually WFP personnel. A few people (none from Africa) are worried I'll be arrested and tortured by the 'Green Bombers' (the Government's paramilitary army) but that's pretty unrealistic. According to the WFP press officers here in Jo'burg, the worst that ever happens to journalists that travel with them in Zimbabwe is a few hours of police detainment. We'll see how it goes...

Anyway, the rest of the trip will be spent operating out of Harare, and we'll return to Jo'burg on Saturday, April 10th. We'll try and post as many blogs as possible during the trip - I can't seem to find anyone that's ever posted something from Zim, so maybe we'll be the first to ever do so... 512 Operations in Africa are about to get hectic, and you don't want to miss the live coverage!

DL Fitch
512 Blogmaster

Well, we made it into Maputo without incident, although the train ride took about three times as long as driving would have... But that's all in the past, and we got two weeks of solid adventure ahead of us now. Aside from our severely depleted bank accounts, everything is set for the most intense spring break you guys could possibly imagine. Mozambique has been called the Rio de Janeiro of Southern Africa, with some quality nightlife and great beaches. It's first thing in the morning of our first day here, but we should be able to confirm those reports in about 24 hours time... We'll have consistent Internet access as long as we stay in the city, so I'm gonna go eat and hit the beaches now, and I'll fill you in on the rest of our plans within the next day or so.

DL Fitch
512 Executive Ambassador

The 512 Collective has secured touchdown in Zimbabwe, and we are now posted in the capital Harare. Everything here is going much better than the US State Travel Warnings would suggest - but before we really get into the details, here's a breakdown of what it took just to get this far:

Saturday, April 3rd: Leaving Maputo at (almost) the crack of dawn, we jumped on an 'express' bus for the 9-hour ride up the Mozambique coast to the small town of Inhabane. We then hitched a ride from one of the Irish Embassy's Land Rovers for the last leg of the journey, which took us into the small village of Tofu on the beaches of the Indian Ocean. A dinner of crab meat and curry was promptly devoured, and we hit the sack soon after that.

Sunday, April 4th: Another morning departure found us driving out of Tofu in a minibus - really just your average Toyota van, and the staple transport of Africa - packed way over capacity with 25 people (imagine opening three cans of sardines, then dumping the contents of two of them into the third and resealing the lid). We then had to charter a rickety old wooden sailboat to cross the Inhabane harbor into Maxixe, where we were deposited at our bus to the coastal town of Vilanculo just minutes before it hit the road. A severe tire blowout delayed our arrival until late afternoon, but the bus didn't flip so I can't complain...

Monday, April 5th: With a full 38 hours on the road ahead of us, we set out at 4am for the Vilanculo bus station. We were told walking was a bad idea and "Only the thieves are out at four in the morning," but we didn't have much of a choice and set out in a pack with two other Americans that had joined us for the day's journey. The walk was tense but uneventful, and we arrived at a small, 1970s- era rust- bucket of a bus, our home for the next 10 hours.

Although our route followed the main highway through Mozambique, it was a narrow and poorly- maintained strip of gravel and asphalt that didn't even compare to the backroads of my homeland in New Mexico. The bus moved slow, and would frequently stop so passengers could talk and conduct business with other people along the road. At one point, we came across a boy standing on the roadside with a goat, and the bus pulled to a stop. After a brief conversation with him, our driver handed over 200,000 meticash ($8 US) and the goat was hoisted up onto the roof to join us for the rest of the voyage into the junction town of Chimoio. When we finally arrived, we transfered to one minibus and then another, and promptly found ourselves standing on the Zimbabwe border. Customs and Immigration were remarkably easy, and within an hour we had arrived at the Mutare train station and were waiting for our overnight ride into Harare.

Tuesday, April 6th: The 10-hour train ride ended a few hours ago in downtown Harare, and we've now settled in at a nice backpackers hostel in the city. I visited the World Food Program offices this morning, and they're taking me out in the field to start shooting tomorrow. That gives me some time to hit the pool this afternoon...

I could go on and on about our adventures of the past week if I had the time, but I really don't so I'll have to leave it at that for now. This is DL Fitch in the political and economic disaster that is the nation of Zimbabwe, signing off... stay tuned for our next episode.