Wow, it has been over a month since I have posted a blog! I’m sorry I have left you in suspense on what Africa has been like, last month internet was super slow and I just needed some time to process everything I have been seeing and learning. I’m going to start at the beginning of our travel and catch you up on what happened last month in Malawi with a few blogs. Then I’ll start posting the ones from here in Zambia.
Let me briefly catch you up on our journey to Africa…and thank you for your prayers as we made the long trip here. Pictures and videos to come:
- October 27th-30th : Our whole squad got together and said goodbye to our squad leaders with a fun party to send them off and lots of quality time with our whole P squad family. Good times were had by all, and we prepared for our upcoming travels.
- October 30th: The travel group I was in started our journey bright and early at 7 am…and headed out to Athens Greece for our first layover.
ATHENS: We had about 8 hours when we landed in Greece until our next flight. A few groups went out and explored the city. It was an absolute perfect day to walk around, see some incredible sights, and eat delicious Greek food. We were out in the city for about 4 hours and then had to get checked in for our next flight. Probably the best layover I have ever had…we got to see the Acropolis, Mars Hill and just take in the city. I’ve always wanted to go to Greece, so even for a few hours…it was a dream!
- That evening we flew from Greece to Qatar- in the Middle East…rushed to catch our flight there at midnight on the 30th and took off on our 9 hour flight to Johannesburg.
Praise the Lord I was able to sleep the whole night on that flight, and we arrived at 9 am to South Africa on the 31st!
Johannesburg, South Africa
Upon our arrival we learned that the buses that were scheduled to pick us up to leave for Malawi that day, were no longer going to be coming.
Things like this sometimes just happen on the Race, it’s part of the excitement of our lives : )
So our AMAZING logistics team, consisting of Stacey Compton and Daniel Durick and our new squad leaders got to work figuring out what came next. They worked their butts off all day to find us a place to stay that evening. We all hung out at the airport that afternoon, waited for the other round of our squad to fly in and just did what we do best…hung out, relaxed, prayed for provision, and laughed a lot with our friends.
Night of the 31st: We stayed at this beautiful tropical hostel in South Africa…we got a great deal and they allowed our whole squad to stay in the same place that night. What a huge blessing!
The logistics team continued to work and work the next day to arrange a bus for all of us. We weren’t able to leave that day (Nov. 1st) so we stayed another night. We all got a great couple nights of sleep and showers and were super thankful for our circumstances and how God had provided for us.
We left for Malawi on November 2nd at 6pm, on a bus that fit all 65 of us perfectly. Excited to be on our way with no idea of how long this adventure might be!
TRAVEL TO MALAWI:
- Nov. 3rd: First border….3 am, standing in line to watch the sun rise as a squad was super sweet…we stood in those lines until 8 am at the Zimbabwean border.
- Traveled through Zimbabwe to the border….9pm BORDER CLOSED…slept on the bus that night…a VERY hot night with 65 people trying to sleep on a bus…funny stories looking back…not funny at the time for most people. **I slept like a baby though : )
- NOV. 4th- 6 AM wake up…cross border without too much hassle.
- Apply for VISA’s at the Mozambique border and it took 8 hours to get them done…we waited at the border from 7am until 3pm.
- Drive fast through Mozambique to try to get to Malawi before the border closed.
- Arrive at the border and it has closed early…night 2 of sleeping on the bus…a lot cooler that night because the boys got off the bus to sleep under parked semi trucks.
- NOV. 5th- Crossed the border of Mozambique…crossed border at Malawi…a lot easier and smoother…finally made it to Malawi!
- Drive to Blantyre, Malawi…teams split up and separate for the month.
o - Drive North for 2 hours…drop other teams off…kept driving for another 5 hours.
***FINALLY arrive in Lilongwe (our home for the month) at 12:30 AM on Saturday the 6th!!!! After around 84 hours of travel by bus…we made it safe and sound!!
(Side note: by the time we arrived my hair and face were black from exhaust! quite the sight to see)
People may have been going a little crazy along the way…we have some classic stories of that bus ride. We ate on that bus, got sick on that bus, we had to sleep on the bus at 2 of the borders and couldn’t get off, when we really wanted to get out and sleep on the pavement underneath parked semi trucks to stay cool. We really just became more of a family on that bus…it was the best form of bonding.
Toward the end of the bus ride Sarah Gaddy and I started imagining different scenarios to escape from the reality we were in… we envisioned a pool party, chips and salsa (we were so sick of sandwiches), cold drinks, and lots of fruit….some people thought we had lost it. We had them fooled though. Things got a little desperate at times, but our squad leaders did an amazing job and so did our logistics team. Everyone had the best attitudes that you could possibly have in a situation like that…not many people can stay sane during a journey like that, but we made it and these are some of the stories that will be the most fun to tell when we get home.
Praise the Lord for safe travels, a rallying of the troops, lots of prayer and worship, the funniest stories, squad bonding, not bathing for 4 days and sitting inches apart, loving life, JOY in the midst of craziness, laughter, and just overall great memories that will stick with us forever!
God had great plans for our long week of travel and I praise Him for His provision in ALL circumstances!
I loved mostly every minute of it….I think I’m really getting better at the long travel days! God’s teaching me peace during these times, and I don’t worry about things that I used to stress or be anxious about. Even after 84 hours of travel by bus….I can still smile : )
More November Malawi Blogs to come soon!
