We made it to Africa!! Let me tell you a little bit about our crazy travel days though…
First I’ll break it down simply:
On the 28th of August we flew out of Sofia, Bulgaria and landed in Doha, Qatar.
We had a 6 hour layover in Qatar before flying to Johannesburg, South Africa which we landed in on the 29th.
From there we took an overnight bus to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (16 hours) and arrived on the 30th.
Then we took another bus to Chegutu (6 hours away) and then finally a 1 hour car ride to our new home in Chinoyi, Zimbabwe!
The flights were amazing as usual. Although I can’t really sleep well on flights, I do enjoy the free food and endless movies. And after traveling so much on buses, I have truly come to appreciate flying.
The layover in Qatar was not very long but we were still able to go to a hotel that the airline provided! It was basically only long enough to shower and eat rather than sleep in the comfy beds but it was the most luxury we had have in awhile and we enjoyed every second.
Our flight to South Africa left around 2am and I actually got some sleep for once, praise the Lord. Once arriving in Africa we had a few hours to eat and exchange currencies. We piled on the night bus at 6pm. I was able to watch one movie and then tried to sleep for the night.
The border crossing took about three hours. It’s hard to move 50 people across borders. We had to get visas and all pile out of the bus so they could check it. We also had to each take our bag from the back of the bus (in a trailer rather than the bottom of the bus for some reason). We thought they were going to search all of our bags but thankfully they just wanted to make sure we weren’t hiding anything underneath all of them. We finally piled back on the bus and tried to go back to sleep since it was now 4am. We arrived in Bulawayo after 9am and our host was thankfully waiting for us at the station. He helped us get on our second bus to take us closer to our destination. This bus was a bit more uncomfortable and hot. And every time we stopped we had about 25 people get on to try and sell us all the same things (ranging from coke and corn to towels and shoes).
We got off at a stop about an hour away from our home city. We sat in front of a grocery store while the locals tried to figure out who we were and why we were there. Our host came quickly though and drove us the next hour to our house! We stopped for dinner at a place called Chicken Inn where the catch phrase was “Luv Dat Chicken”. And it was quite delicious.
Our home belongs to our host’s friend who is kind enough to open it up to 6 women! It’s a wonderful house and we are so happy to be here. Back to bucket showers because the water is only on at 4am but at least we have a tub to use!
Today is our first full day here and it is also my 25th birthday! We spent it going grocery shopping for the week and discovering a beautiful coffee shop run by Christian women! We will be working with the Youth of Zimbabwe this month with my new team. We just had team changes and now I’m traveling with five new women! I’m excited for whatever the Lord has to teach us this month.
We are also living at 3900ft. It really isn’t THAT high but for this Wisconsin girl it is! Literally the elevation is affecting my lungs and it’s very strange! Most of my team and I were winded after only a ten minute walk on flat ground. Not something my body is used to yet but I hope it gets there quickly so I won’t pass out when I work out!
New month. New team. New continent. New hemisphere. New country. New journey and adventure.
