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Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Greetings from South Africa
After an hour at the gate and a 15.5 hr flight, we are here! Trevor & I sat next to each other, with an aisle in between. He was on my left. I'm writing to you from the Baobab Lounge, South African Airways' frequent flyer lounge. I was PUMPED to remember that I still had almost 2 hrs of internet time left on my account here in Johannesburg.
Highlights of flight: watched 3 movies (Opal Dream about a little girl with make-believe friends - good BBC family fun, Some movie with Luke Wilson that was pretty funny, and Evan Almighty); managed to sleep for about 5 hrs, which is lower than normal but almost a full nights rest; and had a great dinner & breakfast! Best part though was it was really direct without a fuel stop, so only 15.5 instead of 18. those extra hours are killer! so i was glad to miss them this time.
Lows: my seat didn't recline; the guy in front of me put his seat back as soon as we took off... so 15.5 hrs of extra crunch on my legs.
My other neighbor was a mom from Chambersburg, PA. Her daughter works for Coca-Cola and has a work thing in Cape Town for the next week, so she invited her mom along to experience Africa for the 1st time. Her other daughter was in St. Lucia and a son studying somewhere exotic. Can't remember. But interesting conversation. I enjoyed listening to her cheer on her kids, even though they weren't around. :) It reminded me of my mom, which is always refreshing.
Trevor is off somewhere drinking coffee. I'm going to hang out here and hopefully knock out some more emails in the next hour. We take off at 6:10pm local, which is 12:10pm on the east coast.
My thoughts are racing as I get excited to return to Zambia. We begin our trip in Lusaka for 2 nights and 1 very full day. Our arrival may prove to be tricky. We have a taxi driver coming to fetch us to bring us to the CURE Hospital guesthouse. We also will be met by a driver that has our vehicle. So we'll have a bit of a caravan to someplace that we don't know how to get to...and it will be about 9 at night in a foreign city. Should be interesting. :) Lots of good stories to come, I'm sure.
In Lusaka, I'll be having breakfast with the national rep for the Mennonite Central Committee and then an afternoon meeting with a TCZ graduate working as the Spiritual Director at CURE's hospital. Trevor is meeting with CURE International's hospital administrators to talk IT. Hopefully our jet lag will not slow us down too much.
Please pray for our time in Lusaka. We then proceed to Ndola, Zambia about 4 hours north of the capital, Lusaka, to visit with folks at the Theological College of Central Africa (TCCA). We hope to begin a partnership with TCCA that would provide funding for their graduates who are running AIDS orphan care projects through their local churches. These projects differ from church to church and may include things like school fees, gardening support, income generating projects, counseling, or vitamins, etc. Things at TCCA are full of promise. I'm anxious to see our friends, the Stuebings, and meet some new ones.
Well - a lot to do and a lot to pray about. Off to email for a bit (hopefully) and read the highlights on last nights Red Sox game! GO SOX!
Pray on friends! I hope you enjoy your ride with us. It is already promising to be a fun filled, action packed adventure with lots of interesting characters along the way.
All the best from South Africa,
Ryan
Thursday, October 18, 2007
From Dulles Airport in DC
It is amazing how quickly our worlds can change. I'm sitting by my gate, shooting off last minute emails, eating chocolate covered pretzels and surfing the web to get a pregame read on my beloved Red Sox. I'm sorry that I'll miss their triumphant recovery and eventual victory in the World Series. Africa is calling my name.
To go from this to the developing world is becoming an easier transition. I'm sitting here trying to figure out whether that is good or bad. I just saw my favorite flight attendant outside a coffee shop in the airport. Is it good to have a favorite and to run into them when the last time you saw them was in Johannesburg, South Africa? She didn't recognize me, of course. But it was comforting. She is VERY good at her job.
In 24 hrs, I will be sleeping on the other side of the world, in a city I've never been to before. It should be a good time. :)
Trevor & I make our way to Ndola, Zambia after a couple days in Lusaka, Zambia's capital. We then will proceed back through Lusaka on our way to Choma and then on to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Over 800 miles in a week along rather bumpy "paved" roads. We are anxious to begin what has been in the works for months. For now, though, we are just waiting for the journey to begin.
I am sad to leave the states and my new wife of 68 days. But as I have been reflecting today, I feel like this is the clearest my purpose has been compared to the 7 previous trips I've made to Africa in the past 3 years. What an amazing privilege it is to go and see these places and share with you what I believe can be done in partnership with local church leaders.
Pray on! The journey from DC to Johannesburg begins in less than 2 hours. For now, I gotta make a couple more calls and get the game time temp for the game. And get a sandwich. AH! I love the USA! See you in Africa!
-Ryan
PS Quick thing... My favorite thing when I come back is getting 2 dunkin donuts (glazed and boston cream) and picking up a nice, cold Dr. Pepper. Just so you know what I'm going to miss the most (besides Katie). :) Oh. And running water is nice, too! I'll enjoy that, as well.
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