It has been twelve days since I arrived in Tanzania. It is extremely hard to think about topics to write about when my brain is till processing the basics of their national language Kiswahili. Tanzania is also plagued by twelve hour brownouts which makes Internet access very difficult. I try to glance at the English language newpapers. Boxing is rarely mentioned here. There is no NBA basketball news in any language. Football or soccer dominates the sports pages. Manny Pacquiao could walk the streets here without anybody bothering him.
My thirst for boxing news is rarely quenched. But I have to walk for half an hour to find an internet caf?. Michael Domingo was the last Pinoy boxer I managed to talk to before I left the country. We crossed paths at the NAIA with trainer Edmund Villamor and manager Sammy Gello-ani before they went to France. Too bad that he lost but I am sure he will bounce back.
I was very happy to read that Rey Bautista was coming back and will finally face Giovanni Andrade. The two unfortunate events that sidelined him made him come to grips with the fragility of the human body. I am confident they will make him a better person and a stronger boxer. I do pity Rey’s next opponent. He will be in for one hell of a beating.
Just like every Filipino, I cannot wait for Pacquiao-Morales III. I am still hoping to catch it on a delayed basis on the net or VCD. I have not seen any Filipinos living here but if there are any I hope they are boxing fanatics.
But working as a medical volunteer in this part of the world changes your perspective on life. People here fight to survive on a daily basis. But still, there are things a Filipino cannot get out of his system, like logging in to Pacland and philboxing. They can be a great cure for homesickness.
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