9/15/2017
We left Atlanta, Georgia at 05:00 on the 11th of September and arived in Nsoko, Swaziland at 20:24 on the 14th of September. To say nothing of our mental capacity our bodies were so tired. The first thing we did, of course, was a 45 minute orientation session. Bless the man’s heart, but he had no more than 40% of our attention. We are here, safe, and still so excited to be in Swaziland.
We had to charter a bus earlier, then planned to beat Hurricane Irma out of Atlanta, and we arrived in Washington later that day. Unfortunately our accommodations that night were on the far side of Dulles Airport, so going into D.C. was impossible with large group of 19 year olds. Two of my former squadmates, from my world race, picked up Kristen, my co-leader, and Shad, our squad mentor. It was such a special time meeting up with such great friends, which got me excited for my squad that they would eventually get to have this deep of a relationship with one another. The next morning we left the States for Doha, Qatar.
We had a 10 Hour layover in Qatar, and our airline booked us a beautiful hotel in downtown Doha, their capital city. Getting there in the evening, we decided to all pay $10 for a tour offered by the hotel, and go get dinner at a famous market. If you have seen Disney’s Aladdin, picture the outlying town below the castle in the movie. It was 101 degrees with a wind “chill” of 128 degrees, it was a hot Arabian night. It is these random adventures that really make the 90 hours to get to Swaziland worth it! We got back on the plane headed for Africa, thoroughly surprised of the time we had in Qatar, and so ready to get to our host in Africa. This flight, I nodded in and out of sleep while my queue of Hitchcock films played in the background.
9/19/2017 Amendment
We are in the bush. Rural might be an understatement. This is the most disconnected I’ve ever been from the outside world and am increasingly thankful for my co-leader, mentor and racers the Lord has surrounded me with. I am so so happy. Communication to the outside world will be slim pickin’s. Thank you all for the prayers, we can tangibly feel the Spiritual here, our Lord is moving.
