I'm Here!

Just a quick note to say that I made it safely to Johannesburg!! The flight was painless and quicker than expected. It is 7:30pm local time but 12:30 back home so I am waiting for my lunch/dinner to arrive and then try to get some sleep. Tomorrow I make my way to Livingstone and then on to the Children's Home! I'll update more later!

(Here I am at the airport with my new friend, Lorna)

Excited!

The date is set.
My flight is booked.
My bags are packed.
I'M READY TO GO!!

The first part of my journey will start on Thursday. Since I am flying out of Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia on Saturday, I will fly up to Maryland to stay with my dad for a couple of days before I leave. Saturday, at approximately 5:40pm, I will be on my way to Africa!! After a LONG 18 hours of watching movies and trying to sleep, I will arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, I will be picked up by some friends of the Children's Home and taken to a lovely Bed and Breakfast. The next morning I will have another 1.5 hour flight into Livingstone, Zambia (home of Victoria Falls). It is in Zambia where I will meet up with someone from the Children's Home and drive 3 hours into Namibia and to my final destination. By this time, it will be Monday afternoon!

I am very excited to see all of the children again! I have been writing letters back and forth with one of the girls from there, so I'm sure the kids know that I am returning. Last time I was there I spent most of my days helping out in the school there, as they were short one teacher, but I'm sure they have a new teacher so I'm wondering what I'll be doing this time. This trip will also be different because the missionaries, Gary and Rebecca, who had been there since the opening of the Children's Home in 2004 have returned back to the States. I'm sure the people who have replaced them will be really nice, but Gary, Rebecca and their 2 sons were like family to me.

Other random things...I will be 7 hours ahead of you- until you "Spring Forward" then I will only be 6. I'm not sure if my email address there will be the same as last time since Gary and Rebecca have left, but once I get there I will let you know! (For those of you who are new to my blog, I have access to the internet there but it is EXTREMELY slow and I have to pay to connect. Since Gary and Rebecca had an outlook account, I had my emails sent there so I could check it for free whenever they connected.) One more thing, I will find out on Thursday the final amount in donations that I have received, but I wanted to thank everyone again...especially those last minute donations, which proved to me for the second year in a row that having faith does wonders!! Alright, I'll stop boring everyone now! Next time you'll hear from me will be from Africa :)

UPDATES:

1. I will be leaving in March instead of January (to cover for a missionary's maternity leave)
2. Financially, I'M HALFWAY THERE!!

Thanks to everyone who has given so far!!!

Going back...

Hello to all!
As I have said before, thanks again for all of your support for my trip to Africa earlier this year. I loved my time there so much that I’ve wanted to return ever since I got back to the States. I found out back in June that the missionaries who opened the orphanage were going to return to the States for good in August, and that there would be a lot of volunteers coming and going in order to fill their spots. I realized then that I needed to be back at the orphanage to help in any way that I could. Unfortunately, I will only be able to go for a month this time and am looking at leaving in the beginning of January. This time around it’s going to cost me close to $3000. Some people have already expressed interest in funding me again, so I am asking for any more donations you may have. I really appreciate everyone’s donations last time, and understand if more cannot/ will not be made. As always, I accept lots of thoughts and prayers! If you do have any donations, please send them, with my name clearly marked on it, to:

Children of Zion, Inc.
P.O. Box 413
Churchville, MD 21028

Thank you for your support and check back here for more updates on my trip!

Namibian National Anthem

Every Wednesday morning, before school, the children have an assembly. They sing worship songs, one of them leads a devotional, they pray, and then they sing the National Anthem. This was taken on my last Wednesday there, and some of the older boys brought out the Namibian Flag to "honor" me.

These are the lyrics to the anthem:

Namibia land of the brave/Freedom fight we have won/Glory to their bravery/Whose blood waters our freedom/We give our love and loyalty/Together in unity/Contrasting beautiful Namibia/Namibia our country/Beloved land of savannahs/Hold high the banner of liberty/CHORUS: Namibia our country/Namibia Motherland we love thee

"Your mouth is better!"

This video was taken the day after the boy in the middle got stung by a wasp on his upper lip. He had an allergic reation to it and his lips and face were swollen. In the video, the boy next to the tree is telling him that his mouth is better, and the boy to the right is saying (half in English, half in his native language...the clicking sound) that it's not back to normal because of the way he is holding the headphone cord in his mouth. After pulling the cord out, they find that it is still swollen. The boy at the end is, jokingly,telling me not to take videos of them, and turns the camera off.

Isaac

This little three year old was TOO CUTE! I taught him how to wink, however, he became camera shy once I started filming. This was taken right outside of the Children's Home. You can hear the other pre-schoolers in the background, watching the "picture".