Arrival

By David Kattenburg

Bumbire Island sits on the northern tip of a sliver of an archipelago in southwest Lake Victoria, Tanzania, East Africa. The islands are gorgeous—and strangely reminiscent of Newfoundland or similar maritime landscapes.

But the hardscrabble fishing camps scattered across Bumbire and neighboring rocky islets are a different story. A mix of settled and transient fishermen lives here, mostly men. HIV-AIDS prevalence rates are sky high.

I spent three days on Bumbire Island, hosted by a pair of American missionaries named Dale and Christine Hamilton, members of an NGO called Africa Inland Mission. Dale and Chris have set up clinics focusing on maternal-child health and AIDS education. Here’s the first in a series of voicescapes from my visit to Bumbire Island. Listen in: