Alas…Africa

I can’t believe that I have been in Africa for about a week. Things have gone by so fast along with so many things that have been happening.  Where else to start other then the beginning:

To start things off Saturday am I did not eat anything before getting on the plane. Well as soon as I got on the plane I realized that I was not feeling so well. I know traveling to Africa, maybe I was feeling anxious. Then I remembered I had taken my malaria medicine. I was thinking uh oh I am in big trouble. Immediately I started to lift this up. Soon the plane took off. Still I was not feeling any better.  As soon as we got up in the air As soon as we got up in the air you guessed it…that am malaria medicine along with the pizza from the night before decided it was going to try to make its way up my esophagus. I continued to lift this up to the Father that he would help me to keep it down. I will spare you the details, but know that He answered my prayers.

At the Charlotte airport I got food and made my way to the gate. At that point I met a girl from Florida that was going to NY to see her brother and a girl from Jersey. Yes, the first thing that came to my mind was that TV show on MTV that I have seen previews for “Jersey Shore.” No, I did not tell this to her though. So I was talking to these two girls, when the girl from Florida realized that her and I were about to miss our flight. We got on the plane and took off. Across from me I noticed a girl that had on a skirt and was reading her bible. Come to find out she was also hands on Africa. Her and I became travel companions through the JFK. Then we met up with all the other girls participating in hands on.

The plane ride to Morocco was a lot of fun. I sat across from a family headed to Africa. 2 of the family members were a 5 year old and 6 year old little boys. They were so cute and became part of my family for the rest of the travel to Niger. They were so cute as they were wearing little mini suits.  One of the little boys needed help throughout the flight so I  helped the dad out in taking care for him. The dad was traveling with the little boys and a little girl. I am still not quite sure where the mother was. So we traveled with them all the way to Niger.

For the most part I have been in orientation. My sleeping pattern is still not very good. I am trying to sleep, but the lack of sleep came in handy when we stayed out in the bush last night. Our supervisor set us up with families to go and stay with. It was nice of her as it gave me a glimpse of what the future holds for me in Ilam. Interesting is all I can say. Everything was great except for the bathroom… think of a pipe lying horizontal in a wall where the area is basically open. I mean I don’t stick out at all being white or anything 😉 . Overall it was a lot of fun. I wish that you all could have seen me try to explain to this girl that I needed to go to the bathroom.  The people in the village where I stayed were amazingly great. One thing that the Spirit spoke to me about was to not see circumstances and the materials/lack of materials in the people, but to have compassion on them because they have Him not. In order to get to the village I took a canoe. It was exhilarating as the waves came up over the boat, the current was strong, and there was a herd of hippos in the water. For night time I was given a mosquito net to help protect me. Too bad there was a hole in it that was a little bit bigger then a quarter.  I knew all I could do was to lift it up knowing that my Father would protect me and somehow make a patch over it so no mosquitoes would get in. In the am there were no mosquitoes in my net! I did not get bitten by one bug. This is a problem here as malaria is very common. In fact upon returning to the compound this afternoon a message awaited us girls that our orientation supervisor caught malaria. Please remember her

I found out that the trip I am on is x-treme. How I manage to get myself in these situations I do not know. The guy in charge of hands-on said they were surprised that anyone signed up for the trip . Anyways I know it is going to be great and that the Father is going to make my head knowledge more then that…I can’t wait!