Zim and the ride is closing in

man there has been a lot going on is Zim lately and it has been getting quite a bit of attention in the media.

Basically Mugabe's ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front) party refuses to release the election results, 1000s are fleeing the country each day, and now Mugabe is rounding up certain members of the opposition party on suspiscions of ploting to overthrow the government. The police and army is being militarized all around the coun try, keeping an eye on everyone with heavy arms. "If something isn’t done in a few days, I tell you, this country is going to be converted into a genocide zone,” said Nelson Chamisa, the opposition’s spokesman recently. Here is the link to the New York Times Web site where you can check out the situation. IT is constantly changing just about every day...

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/zimbabwe/index.html

Also, the trip is coming up, just wrapping the classes in order graduate. Pretty exciting stuff. Still have a lot mroe training to do. The temperatures have been getting into the mid 80s so i am starting to get used to riding in the heat (although yes, the desert will be worst.) A couple more people have shown some interest lately so its looking like we may have a few over seven people. Everyone seems to have similar sights for the trip so I think itll be a pretty awesome group experience. ... 36 more days

Thanks for tuning in

Elections

Keep an eye out, the elections occurred on Saturday but Mugabe is reluctant to let the results out. Word on the street is that there is going to have to be a run off election between the 2 leading candidates, Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Fingers crossed.. Here's a link to the NY Times website which has fairly regular updates of the elections...

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/africa/index.html

Also, Dispatch Foundation has a new campaign with information about the elections (inclsuding a comparison to the U.S. elections) and a petition that you can sign for fair elections...

http://www.thedispatchfoundation.org/headcount/