On Monday, we arrived in Africa! Travel days have been exhausting, but also really incredible. Just for fun, here’s a recap of what my travel days looked like as well as some details of my location for the month.
Our team arrived at the airport in San Salvador, El Salvador on Friday night. The security guards at the airport allowed our squad of 30 to stay in the airport that evening, since our flight was early the next morning. We set out our sleeping pads and sleeping bags on the airport floor until 5am (just like training camp).
On Thursday morning we woke up early, checked our bags and boarded a plane from El Salvador to Houston, TX. My mom, Toria (my sister), and my friend Tea, all flew into Texas so we could spend those few hours together (I know, they’re pretty amazing!). It was my first time in Texas and I had to try some Texas BBQ. Our first stop was lunch at Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse. As we pulled into the parking I was reminded that God really loves me as I spotted an REI, just across the street. For those that don’t know, REI is the place to go to get world race gear. Of course, we stopped in after lunch to pick up a few things. God was loving on us even more when Shara was able to return her tent and receive store credit to use towards the items we needed. We ran a couple more errands then headed over to our hotel room to repack our bags. My mom surprised us with our Christmas stockings (filled to the top) and brought some stew chicken and roti for us for dinner. It was so good to have Trini home cooking!
At 9pm that night we boarded a plane to our second layover in Istanbul. News Years was celebrated in the air as we flew over the ocean. We arrived in Turkey just a few hours after the terrorist attack at the night club. At the time, we didn’t know how serious the shooting had been. Praising God for our safety!
We then boarded our plane for Africa!!! I sat next to a Ugandan man, Crispin, (who currently lives in NY). He shared with me some of the things he loved about Uganda – he may be a little biased, but he says Uganda has the friendliest people. 🙂 I was able to share with him about the World Race and how we’ve been blogging our stories to share with people back home. He was very excited about that and said if there is one thing we could do in Uganda, it should be this – to invest in helping people learn to write. This is something I take for granted, but there are many people who never learned. He said that if people learned how to write they would also be able to share their stories and help people around them and the nation would grow stronger. After being in the country for a just a few days, I already see how the need for literacy is great.
Our flight arrived in Entebbe, Uganda at 4:30am (8:30pm Eastern – we are 8 hours ahead of east coast time). After customs and logistics, we drove an hour to Kampala, then another 6 hours to Lira. Along the way, I got my first glimpse of the Nile river and wild monkeys. We also stopped for street meat, we pulled along the side of the road and vendors literally stuck skewers of meat (either goat or beef) into the car through all windows, for us to choose. It was a fun and delicious experience.
We finally arrived at our site for the month, LightForce International, located in the middle of the bush of Lira. The facility is very nice, with a welcoming and generous staff. When he started this facility in Uganda, our host, George, asked the community what they wanted. Out of that they built a nursery, primary school, health clinic and a children’s home. School is out on break until February. We will be spending our time in the children’s home and helping with a sports program outreach.
While I am going to miss practicing my Spanish in central America, I am happy that English is a main language here!
Please pray for our team’s health and safety as we spend the next two months in Africa. Specifically, pray for our strength and energy with the jet lag and pray against Malaria. Please pray for our adjustment to the culture and for building relationships with the kids and people here.
Please also begin to pray for the kids at the childrens’ home. We are getting to know their stories and while most have parents, their living conditions were unbearable before coming to the children’s home (starvation, abuse, neglect, sickly parents, spiritual warfare).
My last fundraising deadline is at the end of this month. Please consider helping me reach my final fundraising goal.
Thank you for the prayers and support!
