Wednesday May 14th, 2008...Mosquito Nets

Last night, we couldn't get the DVD player to work, so we decided to get to know some of the other people staying in our hotel. It was cool because there is a group of 14 people from the West Coast (ages 24-38) that just got done with Kili and a safari. I loved picking their brains about what to expect, and Douglas and I ran them off the table in cards....needless to say...it was a good night!!

So today we went to the National Park Main office and learned about how they protect their wildlife and run their national parks. The lady was very interesting and gave us some great informational magazines that I'll get to read on our 2 hour drive back to the hotel. I am so excited about our safari and Kilimanjaro, everytime I see pictures, I get more and more pumped!

After lunch we went to the A to Z mosquito net factory. It is one of the largest suppliers in the world. The sell for only about $5. Wow.

They take synthetic plastic beads from Japan with insecticide infused in them, then melt them down. This is a machine that takes the melted plastic and pulls it into thread.
The threads are raveled onto large spools and then woven together into the nets. The nets can last up to 5 years with the infused insecticide that kills the mosquitos that land on it.
The nets are cut into the size that the buyer wants.
And then they are sewn into a huge square pattern. The picture at the top of this blog is an example of a finished product. These nets have been able to rid many African areas of malaria. What a business. They employ about 1200 people and and even give them housing in the compound for their families.

As we were leaving the factory, President Adams and Provost Mace pulled up in their Land Rover. They are checking out some land that may be donated to UGA for a permanent campus here in Tanzania...how awesome would that be. We have dinner with them tonight. There are 13 students on the ILA business trip that I am on and 18 students on the African Studies maymester program. Tonight we are going to spend our first night all together. I am excited to get to know the other students.

I heard the Dawgs took out Tech at Turner field...awesome. And both tennis teams made the cut for the final 16 in Tulsa for NCAAs. Georgia sports are still rolling.

By the way..I uploaded pictures to all of the past posts, so check them out. And check out the other blog at www.ugaintz2008.blogspot.com .

Until tomorrow, Kwahere from Tanzania!!