Home

It is so good to be home.

We left Nairobi Wednesday morning and arrived in Ghana around 12pm. We were carrying medications for the Ghana Village in our carry ons. We were concerned that we would be stopped and the medications would be confiscated. One of the ROS in Kenya reminded us that we should have the home office e-mail us the letter that they usually send to people bringing supplies. We got the letter. I was stopped in security as they saw the bottles on the scanner. There was no hassle, the Security person looked at the bottles and the letter and let me through. They didn't ask Elaine, but I was the one carrying the medicine in bottles.

We were met by the Health Care Nurse from the Ghana Rafiki Village, had lunch, went shopping and passed on the medicine. We filled our bags with newly required purchases.

The trip home was a midnight flight. We arrived in Atlanta at about 8 am and then on to Denver .

I am pretty tired. There were 13 flights in all jetways only in Ethiopia and the American flights. This meant going up and down the stairways, in and out of planes and terminals. Elaine would rope someone into carrying her bag up the stairways to board the plane. We walked through tarmacs to get to our plane or into the terminals. In Nairobi we had a long stairway to climb to get in and out of the terminal. When we left for Tanzania we could have easily boarded the wrong plane as there were 2 rows of people boarding planes. I have to admit it was rather strange boarding the Atlanta/Denver flight. It was full of white people.

In all we must have seen around 300 to 350 orphans, mama, employees and also some families of employees. We did general counts except in Kenya. This is all pretty tiring. The hardest part is all the plane changes, lugging heavy luggage in and out of countries. We kept saying were weren't going to shop anymore but we both did. There is a lot of the same stuff everywhere, but you can find beautiful and unique things. The best shopping is in the dusty market places where they try to sell you everything you look at. My best purchase was a giraffe carved from Rosewood for less than 20$ from a wood carver's shop in Tanzania. You can buy carved giraffes everywhere but the really nice ones are costly and hard to find. The one I bought was an unusual find.

As also we have a chuckle or two. When we went to the Mall in Kenya, our driver was asked by the security people at the mall if he was the driver for Madeline Albright. They thought Elaine was Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State under former President Clinton. Elaine didn't think that was too flattering. Apparently Madeline Albright had been in Kenya the previous week. I think the only similarity might be hair color. Elaine is much more attractive.

Other than our trip to Kilimanjaro, this was a working trip with some quick shopping trips. It was less stressful than the community clinics I have done. The people we saw were for the most part healthy, but there was a mama who had a tumor the size of a 6 month pregnancy that will need surgery. The good thing is that the tumor is benign. There was a sick 5 year old day student that walked 8 km to and from school. They wanted to bring her into the orphanage but found out she had a mother. There was a little boy that had just been admitted to the village who came to be seen several times with an allergic reaction that is believed to be from eggs.

It is hard to imagine the situations many of the day students come from. It is hard to imagine a little girl walking that distance to school, but people in Africa walk long distances. It is not unusual to see children walking along the roadsides, sometimes alone, sometimes with another child.

I marvel at how they can walk so tall that the can carry baskets and all kinds of stuff on their heads. It is mostly women and young girls who are carrying these loads. You see a lot of old bikes on the road. The roadways are filled with all sort of unusual sights from big open trucks hauling people from place to place to men pushing heavy carts.

Life in Africa is not easy for most of the people. There is much corruption in the governments but some of the leaders are really trying to help the people.

In Kenya, we met a young man who grow up in Kibara, one of the worst slum areas in the world. A missionary sponsored him to go to nursing school. He still lives in the area and is working with young HIV patients and wants to volunteer with Rafiki. He is a midwife. That may sound unusual for a man, but in some places in Africa when you go to nursing school they tell you what field you will be trained in. He was interesting to talk to. His goal is to go back to school to get a degree.

It takes me a while to process all I have seen and experienced. Africa is a reality check. It keeps life in prospective.

Count Down

When all is said and done we will have seen around 115 students and children here in Kenya. This is a busy Village. The children have grown a lot and some I can hardly recognize.

The rains have started. Things in the Village are green but outside it is muddy. Tonight we went to The Bible Fellowship Class. As we reached the church it started to rain. It poured. When we started our discussion groups we could hardly hear. It is hard enough understanding the Africans, even though they have a good command of English, but imagine trying to listen when rain is pounding on a tin roof.

We must have had about 10-15 minutes of heavy rain. It was still raining as we drove home.

The roads are a mess, worse than my first time in Kenya. They had put new roads in 2007 and now they are full of potholes. They are working on the roads but this area is pretty bad. The traffic is horrible and then there are people darting in and out of it. They also wear dark colors so between having to watch for potholes and people it is pretty scary at night. You have to be so careful.

The ROS forgot to call and let them know to let us in at the gate so we had to drive around for a while till they could get the key to let us in. It is also dangerous to be in a standing vehicle at night.

Wednesday morning we leave for home. We are tired and all the flying takes its toll. Pray for our safe return home and for us to finish strong.

Rakiki Village, Nairobi

One of the things I love about the Village in Kenya is the morning devotions. They are held on the steps of Kenyatta House. It once was the summer home of Jomo Kenyatta, the first prime minister of Kenya. We are staying in Wageni (Guest) House which was once the quarters for the guards. Devotions start at 7:15 and end at 8:00 in the morning. It is a time when the staff and employees come together for praise and worship and to ask for God's blessing upon our day.

The school assembly takes place in front of the house with the singing of the National anthem and an opening prayer. It is an impressive sight to see around 180 students dressed in maroon and Navy uniforms. The lower grades are in grey and maroon uniforms.

As I stood on the steps of Kenyatta house I was reminded of a very special blessing in Ethiopia. The children with their teachers, the mamas and assistants marched single file to greet us in the gazebo to say "thank you." These 4-5 year olds and a few 7 year olds recited the Apostle's Creed in understandable English. Then they sang, "I decided to Follow Jesus" in English and then in their native language.

This afternoon, also was one of the times that make this all worthwhile. Several of the students will be writing National exams next week. These exams will determine which colleges they will attend. They assembled in front of Kenyatta house for prayer. The younger students prayed for the older, cheering them on as they prepare to take the exams. These are the 8th grade day students who come from the surrounding villages. The Rafiki children are still too young and most are in the 4-6 grades. Most of the day students come from very poor or difficult circumstances. Some of the students are 18-22 years old. The chance for an education is very important to them.

The head teacher was in the clinic this morning with a bunch of sandpaper. It is traditional for the students to go to the place where they will write the exams and sandpaper the desk to make sure no one left any notes for cheating. Apparently if one is caught cheating the whole class fails.

Elaine and I are busy in the clinic. We have busy days tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning we head for home. This is the largest group of children. There are 97 children here plus about 87 day students. The majority of the boys were seen by another mini missionary doctor. We are mainly doing the girls and several new arrivals, one just came this last Tuesday. This afternoon Elaine gave the young girls a talk on Love, Sex and Infatuation.

We are enjoying some relaxing time and will be heading for dinner with one of the ROS couples in about a half an hour. Tomorrow, we plan to go into Nairobi to do a little shopping in the afternoon.

We received notice that we need use water sparingly as they are fixing some water lines in the city. It is affecting 80% of the city. We have water but must be careful. We stored up extra water last night. No shower tonight.

The rains have started and everything is green and beautiful in the Village. It is much cooler than I expected. I guess God is preparing me for the weather change when I get home.

It's hard to believe that we are in the home stretch.

Ethiopia Continued

Computer connections are a challenge.  I am in Nairobi now, but want to complete the Ethiopian adventure.

In Ethiopia it is 2003. They use the Julian calendar which is made up of 12 months of 30 days and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days if a leap year.

We knew before we were picked up by the Village director that if we wanted to do any shopping we had to do it that day.  There are only 2 couples running the Village and one was on a short vacation. We were on the hunt for the small Ethiopian crosses but the silver place were we at last year was closed for remodeling.

We went back to a store we had been to last year but we had to make our way through a number of shops, all trying to sell us something.  It is hard walking through these shops as every where we turned someone wanted to shine our shoes, sell us phone cards or maps.  There was a child begging but in the background was a man encouraging him to follow us.  The village director told us to watch our purses.
We walked past a construction site.  There were workers hauling up dirt on stretcher like boards.  The hole was steep and deep.  There was no modern digging equipment.

We did a little shopping and went for lunch at the restaurant owned by the fellow from Seattle.

Thursday was spent getting settled into the Village.

When we were here a year ago there were no children at the village other than the staff's children. They were training mamas to care for the prospective children.  They got their first 2 children about 2 weeks after we left. Today they have 24 children, some had only been in the village about 2 weeks.  They also have several day students. There were about 27 employees that we saw including the mamas. The  four very young girls training to be mamas are all still there.  One is an assistant mama and 3 others each have 6 children under their care.  They have 3 national teachers and a national who is the right hand person for the Village Director,  5 guards,  5 cooks, 2 or 3 gardeners.

English is a big problem and communication is a challenge.  You tell someone something, you think they understand but they don't.  Birthdays, most people cannot tell you their birth year let alone the day they were born.  Most know their age so we used the Ethiopian calendar to figure out the year.

I would ask them to write their name but most seemed to think I could just spell their name.  They don't have names like "John Smith."  I suspect many cannot write.  The National who is the assistant director had a good command of English.  His name is  Million and his children have birthdays and also use our calendar for birth year. His daughter's name is Heaven (Ganet) Million. The last name of an individual is their father's name. He did most of the translating for us.

Prenatal care in Ethiopia is practically non existent.  Many families have lost a baby before birth. Immunizations are also an issue.  They do give the children Vitamin A.  Interestly, most of the eye checks were 20/20 vision.  They could read the smallest print.

The men do not marry until they are about 30 years of age or until they can support a wife. They are for the most part very poor.  If one member of a family is earning money other family members expect them to give them money.  Several of the workers have children in the day school.  We did physicals on their children.  It was a shock for me when I was getting a couple of kids ready for their physical that they did not have underwear  or what they had was tattered and worn.  This really bothered me.  If do this again I am going to put together some kites of underwear.   Toothbrushes are a big thing. We do come in with lots of toothbrushes, but underwear needs to be on the list.

The orphan children here adapt very well.  They are beautiful children.  We saw all of them on Friday.  Many of them had just had the experience of being immunized for polio.  As you can imagine, many of them were not to keen on seeing us.  Each child got an animal mask which gave them a lot of joy and us a lot of laughs.  They kept putting them on with the ears upside down.   They looked pretty comical.

Saturday morning they were all in the play area with their animal masks.  We laughed as I was trying to take a picture.  They kept moving toward me, finally someone got them to stay back so I could take the picture.  Then they all mobbed me  afterwards so they could see the picture.

Saturday and Sunday were very quiet.  Sunday the second family returned from vacation.  We finished our work Tuesday before noon and went into Addis with one of the families. They were going into Addis for their children's basketball game. Originally, were were going to leave for Addis on Wednesday, but this  saved a trip into town for them.  Addis is an hour an a half away, the roads are good but the traffic is scary.  The 6 children of the ROS families travel this everyday to school.  This makes for a lot of praying.

It is a different world in Addis.  The streets are lined with people selling all kinds of stuff, sunglasses, phone cards, shoe shines and also the beggars which seem to target any white person on the street.  It would seem that handing a few coins would be a kind thing, but if you did you would get mobbed.

We left Ethiopia and arrived at our destination outside Nairobi at about 6:45 pm.  They are doing a lot to improve the roads in Nairobi, but they have a ways to go.  There was a lot of detours because of construction.

The Village Director had a "light" dinner prepared, salad, fish, rice, vegetables and dessert.

Ethiopia

I am back to having some more Internet access.  We finished up in Ethiopia and now are in a hotel in Addis Abba.  It is interesting that in the 4 times we have stayed at this hotel we have been given the same room.

We arrived in Addis last Wednesday evening.  We had no trouble getting through the airport and to the hotel.  

I must admit we had a few chuckles getting here.  We flew up from Kilamanjaro on a big jet.  It was surprising as the airport in Kilamajaro  is not a large airport.  The good thing is we knew our luggage was on the plane as they had us point out our bags that were to be put on the plane. It was a long hike  up to board the plane as there was no sky way.  There were not too many on the flight to Nairobi. We stopped in Nairobi but had to stay on the plane.  Elaine had bought a carved Impala in the airport gift shop at Kilimanjaro.  Fortunately, we were able to secure an overhead bin on the plane in Kilimanjaro.  We did not want the Impala to fall out of the bin as others were boarding in Nairobi and were looking for overhead space. We kept stopping people from opening the bin.  One guy asked us if we had a chandelier in the bin.  He was originally from Seattle and went to Roosevelt High School.  He had overheard us talking about Seattle.  We were rather amused at how people were trying to get there luggage in some rather small  spaces.  One fellow was determined to get his bag into a bin that already had a large bag.  He succeeded.  

The trip to Ethiopia was uneventful except  we had a spectacular  view of the sun setting.  It was cool in Addis.  The shuttle from the hotel picked us up. Elaine and I with our 6 bags are the first in the shuttle.  They also had 5 men with their carry ons get on the shuttle. That took a bit of organizing getting everyone in  and rearranging luggage. One guy had his luggage on his lap. As luck would have it, ours was the first stop and we are at the back of the shuttle.   Several of them had to get out to let Elaine and I off at our hotel .  They definitely had much more room for their luggage once we got out.

In the morning we hit the shopping mall and the silver shop, bought some coffee and headed back to wait for our ride to Mojo.

I will stop for now as my computer battery is low and I do not have the right adapter to charge it.  By the way it is 2003 here.

Tomorrow we leave for Ethiopia.  We finished most of what we had to do.  Today we saw one employee for their physical.  I spent the day organizing the pharmacy while Elaine went to get more medicine in town and also arrange for one of the Mamas to have an ultrasound.  I am packing and doing laundry  while Elaine went back into town with the Mama to have the tests.

It has been very hot the last couple of days, especially in the afternoon.  Mount Kilimanjaro  showed herself last night and the peak this morning.  The sunset was spectacular but sunsets are very short as we are only a few degrees of the Equator.

We will have the morning to finish up and do our final packing. We will spend the night in Addis Abba and connect with the Village Director around 10 am.  the Village is about an hour and a half from Addis Abba near a town called Mojo.

I am looking forward to some cooler weather.

Kilimanjaro

Saturday morning were picked up by East Africa Voyage Tour Company to drive us to the 11,300 foot level of Mount Kilimanjaro.  The main roads of Tanzania are for the most part good, but our good roads turned to gravel and then dirt roads. We passed through a few villages where it was market day.  It was bustling with people in colorful traditional garb as well as western.

 There was not much traffic but we would see people packed in the back of trucks traveling from town to town. You must remember there towns are not like ours, they look more like slums.  I would surmise most of the worst places at home would be 10 times better.   The country side is farm land.  We  even saw a tractor and a combine.  They were harvesting beans. There were many potato fields along the way. The soil is very rich and our guide said they do not need to use fertilizer in the soil.  It is a pretty countryside  but the roads  are rough.

We reached the main gate for a bathroom stop and to register to go into the park.  There was a group of serious climbers with porters packing a bus with supplies.  They would be heading to a different route to climb the mountain.  Our route took us to the Shira Plateau.

The best way I can describe our drive up is like being in an unbalanced load of laundry. It was a slow, rough drive up on  a narrow dirt road with deep ruts. These are the roads  that the loggers use.  It was  a pretty drive up, no steep edges, just horrible roads.  They drive slow to allow us to acclimate to the altitude.  Living in Colorado is a plus as I am use to higher altitude living.

Our guide was from the Masai tribe.  He was a Christian so he did not have the large holes in his earlobes or the traditional tooth pulled out.  He spoke excellent English and was a well educated and informative man.  He gave us some insight into the Masai tribe.

I did get to experience what it feels like to be in the clouds.  It was disappointing that we did not get to see the summit of Kilimanjaro called Kibo which is the third and most predominate peak because of the cloud cover.

Tim, one of the ROS and myself braved the elements and did a 2 hour plus hike.  Three others turned back after about 20 minutes when it started to drizzle.  Our guide took us up about another 300 feet of altitude.  It was an interesting hike as we got to see more or the plateau.  We did have to navigate a couple of deep ravines.  I was grateful for the strong arm of our guide.  I had to hold on to him to pull myself up unto a couple of big boulders. Going down was one thing, going up another.   It did rain hard for several minutes.  My legs and back pack got pretty wet.  I was wishing I had rain pants.  It was cold but after we hiked a while I was warm.  My pants dried out when the rain stopped and it warmed up.

The last part of the hike was the longest.  We reached the place where the others turned back.  I thought they hadn't gone very far  and I kept thinking,""Only a little farther." There was only one trail so I knew we weren't lost but it seemed to take forever to reach our starting point.

When we returned, the first place I wanted to go was to the toilet.  The group that went back told me I had to" hike" to the toilets which was true, a short hike.  All I can say is  that a "pit stop" has new meaning.  It was an okay building with a latrine, which is a big hole in the cement floor that a person could fall in. Sadder still it is in places like this that some of the children have been found.

Before we left for home we had lunch on that windy cold plateau. It was quite a spread.  Despite the weather  we had a memorable time.  I have seen the mountain from the village and it is amazing to me to think I have hiked on Kilimanjaro!

I must admit there is a temptation to return one day and reach the summit of Kilimanjaro.  We asked out guide how many times he had taken people to the top. He said he quit counting at 120.   The key to reaching the top is to take it slowly.  Even as we hiked, he kept our pace slow so we could adjust to the altitude.  If I ever get the notion that I want to reach the top of Kilimanjaro I would want this person as my guide.

From Zambia to Tanzania

Yesterday we left Zambia.  The day  was spent traveling to Tanzania. We finished all the physical exams on Tuesday about 4 pm.  Our day ended with the sweet sound of the kindergarten children singing and playing games in the gazebo outside the clinic. These are the most beautiful, polite and well behaved children.

A lady from Dr. Elaine's church had sent a bunch of animal masks, the children we saw on Friday all were given masks and toothbrushes.  When we closed the clinic for the weekend, there were children asking if they were going to see the doctor on Saturday. They had to wait till Monday, but they all got masks and toothbrush.  The last group of boys were the oldest and busiest.   It is amazing to see how these children are thriving.

I love Zambia.  It was much greener this year than it was last year as it is spring and the leaves are coming out.  Despite very hot days, the evenings are cool.

 I did have a visitor at the guest house, a gecko.   I wanted to take his picture but he was too quick.   I was relieved that he didn't climb in our luggage for a free ride to Tanzania.

 We left the Village in Zambia at about 9:30am. We got to the Rafiki Village in Tanzania about 8:30 pm.

Our seat assignment was changed from Lusaka to Nairobi, they stuck us in the back of the plane and had us sitting apart.  We asked for better seats which turned out to be worse and beside the toilets.  Elaine went and talked to the flight attendant and was told that the plane wasn't full so we could move.  We were standing in the middle rows not too far from where were suppose to be seated when some guys traveling together came looking for their seats, one was beside me and one was suppose to be across from him in the middle row.  They asked where their seats were and I directed the one next to me  to his seat, the other guy moved into the seat beside him, taking my seat. Several people were asking me which row as they were  showing me their boarding passes.  Elaine's seat and the one next  to her got occupied. I realized why everyone was asking me where  their row was, I was wearing a red T shirt.  The flight attendants on Kenya Airlines are dressed in red.  I should have been quicker I might have got us into first class.

A group of business men were seated behind where Elaine and I had parked ourselves.  One laughed "only in Africa."  The attendants didn't seem to care where anyone sat.  That would have been a huge mess in America.  It is mind boggling to think that they couldn't give us our assigned seats.  I think they fill the plane from the back as people check in.  On our Tanzania flight we asked for seats closer up and we were toward the back.  The plane to Tanzania was a small turbo plane.  They  had to move a couple of big guys to the front of the plane to balance the load. A similar thing happened last year, we saw the pilot outside looking at the plane and then they moved a bunch of us forward.

The trip into Kilimanjaro was rocky for a good 20 minutes of the 45 minute flight.  Would you believe they served drinks and a snack on this flight.  It was not an 8 peanut snack but a nice bag of cashew nuts.

Elaine and I were first in line to get our visas and the last 2 to get out of the airport because the guy who was processing our visas was having all kinds of problems.  Then customs guy stopped us and hassled us about 33 cent toothbrushes.  We didn't confess to all the chocolate. Then there were all those children's  animal masks we were carrying!!!!

Today we got right to work.  We did get the physicals of the 24 children done.  Tomorrow we will do day students and teachers.  I spent part of my day sorting through medications.

Saturday ...............  Kilimanjaro.

The Village here is beautiful.  You can see Kilimanjaro from the Village when it is not covered by clouds.  I have yet to get a clear view of this elusive mountain.

A Chosen Child From Kitwe

Today we travelled 4 hours and 56 minutes to Kitwe for Dr. Elaine to check a little boy named Enoch for admission to the Rafiki Village.  This little boy's  5 year old sister, Judith, is already here.    The paper work for guardianship is in the works and hopefully in a month he will be integrated into a family.  His mother has died and the grandmother who has TB is giving her grandchildren a place to be lovingly cared for and educated.   Today, we met a man named Justin who was instrumental in getting Rafiki started in Zambia.  The trip was long but there is something special about God allowing me to witness the rescuing of a chosen child.

 It was ironic as we were at the clinic examining him we heard a loud marching band  coming to an area in front of the clinic.  They were doing a pep rally for Planned Parenthood.  We were there for life and they to snuff it out.

It was an interesting trip to see this part of Zambia.  Kitwe is a cooper mining town. We travelled through 7 police check points.  There were markets along the way.  They were watermelons, pineapple, tomatoes, onions, figs, raw peanuts, and honey being sold along the roadway.  Then we also saw chickens, goat meat, birds for sale and also a live rat. We went passed the coffee fields and the grain fields.  I even saw combines and tractors. It reminded me of travel at home before the cut out all the trees.  The jacaranda trees were in full purple bloom .  That watermelon cost me 20,000 kwatchas ( about 4$)  On the way home we stopped for coffee in Lusaka.  The coffee is wonderful here. I even had a heart drawn in the foam of my cappuccino.  You haven't tasted a good cup of cappuccino unless you have had one  in Africa.

 We left at 5:15 am and got home at  8:30 pm.   It was a day filled with abundant blessings.  a time of sharing and reflection as were travelled with Dave and Nancy, the Rafiki  staff here.  How great is the work that God is doing here.  Today, it is a small ripple, but one day it will be a tidal wave.

It Would be Boring!

It would be boring if everything went as planned, if the shuttle picked you up on time and took you to the airport with no glitches and you didn't encounter any red lights. It would be boring if you were checked in, make it through security and  get to your gate with plenty of time and your plane is on time.

 Well that's not how it happened.  As planned the shuttle arrived at 8:05. Two more people were picked up in my area and we headed toward the airport to pick up 2 more.  We arrive at a given address of an apartment building number but no one is there.  The driver calls and the place this lady is at is not anywhere nearby. One of the passengers then gets on the phone because the driver an Ethiopian is having a hard time understanding this lady, (who it turned out was from India). He can't figure out what this lady is saying either.  She is giving the same address and saying she is near an office Max. The traffic was heavy so we are having a difficult time getting around.  To add to it all, it was raining like it would in Seattle.  We then saw an Office Max in the opposite direction that we had been driving around.  We find her. Then we see that the street number it is the same as the one we initially had stopped at, one of the landmarks she was talking about was also similar.   We picked up the 5th person and headed to the airport, hitting a majority of red lights.
 We get to the airport at 10:20 am  My plane is to leave at 11:45 am.  By the time I get checked in, get through security and get to my gate it is 11:25 am. They changed the gate, now I have only 15 minutes to get on the plane.  When I get to the new gate every one is standing around.  It says the plane is "on time,"  except they have a mechanical problem with the plane. I am not too shook at first because I had allowed myself over a 5 hour layover in Atlanta.

Then the minutes and hours ticked away. It was looking more and more like I would miss my overseas flight.  After 3 calls on my cell phone to get help because the line to the agent was slow and long with people wanting different flights, I began to panic.  My cell phone calls kept getting dropped. The next flight would only give me 45 minutes to make the plane change.  They announced that there were "help" phones down another gateway.  I headed out, got booked on the next flight only to realize that flight was scheduled to leave out of the same gate where the plane with mechanical problem plane was.  When I returned to the gate they were starting to board the plane. I did get my old booking back but the plane didn't leave for another hour.  I made it to Atlanta with 15 minutes to boarding.  Elaine was starting to worry as I was suppose to be there when she arrived.  She did find out that I was on the incoming plane.

I was relieved to make my flight.  Prior to boarding my flight to Atlanta, they announced that if anyone didn't want to fly on the plane that had mechanical problems they would be happy to rebook the flight.  That was encouraging!!!

We made it to Acura, Ghana with about a 7 + hour layover.  The good thing was I could get a 48 hour Visa for 20$.  We went into town and rested in the lounge at The Tulip Hotel, had some refreshments and later some dinner before heading back to the airport.

 The rest of the flights were on time and after a short layover and plane change in Nairobi we  were on our way to Zambia.  We arrived in Lusaka, Zambia...... ON TIME.   With the few things we needed to do before leaving the village and the trip to the village it was close to 47 hours of travel time.   In your time, we reached out destination at about 6:30 am on the 14th.

 We were pretty tired and all we wanted to do was get cleaned up. My water had not been turned on so I had a cool shower but the towel was still warm from being taken out of the dryer.  The air conditioning had not been on so it kept the towel warm.

It is hot here in Zambia.  It is summer and heading into the wet season.  I learned today they have 4 seasons, the Winter Season or cold season, the dry season, summer and the wet season.

We saw 11 kids and 14 adults today.  It was a 9 hour day for me and 10 for Elaine.

It is fun to go to the bank and give them 50$ and walk out with 250,000 kwatchas.

Tomorrow we have a long day ahead. We will be taking a 5 hour drive to check a new child for the Village.  We are going some where in northern Zambia, near the equator.  It will be a 5 hour trip
home also.  I have no idea what to expect.

 Never in my imagination did I think I would be going to some unheard of place in Africa.

So I must shower and get to bed.  We are leaving at 5 am.  So on to tomorrow for a new adventure with God.

This is the Day

This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.

A year ago I returned from Africa. Today I leave for Africa.   When my son-in-law prayed for my trip yesterday, he prayed for the success of our team. I was quick to remind him that our team consisted of 2 people.  He said,"three."  I said, "two"  My idea of a team going on a mission trip was much larger, it took me a minute to realize why we were a team of three not a  team of two. One does not go out alone, but is going out with the grace and protection and direction of the Almighty.  I needed that reminder that this trip is not about me and Elaine, it is about God.  It is about His work and provision for these precious children in Africa.

I will be leaving my home in about 30 minutes to begin the long journey.  Elaine and my flight connect in Atlanta, then on to Ghana tonight, then to Lusaka, Zambia, our first destination.

So I leave home knowing God goes before us and is behind us and He has hedged us in and we follow the path He has prepared for us.

My Flying Verse:

The eternal God is your Refuge and  underneath are the everlasting arms ... Deuteronomy 33:27

Here I Go Again!

Everything is slowly coming together as I prepare for my 5th trip into Africa.  October 12th is the day I leave for Ghana.  We will  fly down to Zambia for 1 week, then Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and back to Ghana and then home.  I will be gone a month less a day.
 As the day draws closer I am starting to get excited.  I am excited to see the children and mamas again and to meet again all the Rafiki Overseas Staff(ROS).  I am looking forward to seeing the children in Kenya as this is my 5th trip there and I have had the blessing of watching them grow up.  It is always exciting to see the changes that occur each Year.  
 I am not looking forward to the long flight to Zambia but it will be broken up with plane changes in Atlanta, Ghana and Nairobi.  We will arrive on the 14th at around 10 am, which will be  the 13th around 8 or 9 pm  here at home.  I really don't want to think about how long this trip is going to be.  I hopefully will get some sleep on the plane. Once we get to Zambia we have about an hour plus of travel time to the Rafiki Village.   I suspect that we will be somewhat wasted by the time we reach our destination. 
I am excited about a day trip to the 11,000 foot level of Mount Kilimanjaro.  I understand this is one of the most scenic places in Tanzania.
I am feeling so blessed!