Thank you God for answering my last prayer before falling asleep that 2nd time early this morning...We made it to Rwanda with no further incidents!
When we got to the airport in Kigali Rwanda- WOW! It is a very beautiful airport and beautifully landscaped.
All of our luggage made it to Kigali the day before (a day ahead of us--- thanks to all of you that prayed our luggage would arrive because God answered that prayer-- do you see the irony that we should have spent as much time praying WE would arrive with the luggage??- ha!)
Sherri was stopped on the way out of the airport because of the boxes of dental supplies... I was on the other side of the door and was praying the entire time that Sherri would make it through with all the equipment... God is so faithful! Once the attendant understood that the equipment was for the orphanage, she allowed her through with no issues-- no taxes.
Mike Koch, the village director, loaded all our luggage & portable dental units in the vehicle and was a great tour guide as we drove through the beautiful capital city of Kigali and on to the neighboring town of Nyamata Rwanda, where the Rafiki village is located about 40 minutes outside Kigali.
This city was almost a polar opposite from drive when leaving the airport in Ethiopia. I didn't see a single piece of refuse anywhere! It is beautful and has a lot of new construction (much safer looking scaffolding).
YAY God! Thank you for bringing me to Rwanda Africa!!!
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Day 2 Travel... an Unexptected overnight stay in Ethiopia
So, after we got our passport stamped, Sherri needed to get her overnight bag which she'd been required to check in NY, so we proceeded to find a person to explain the situation to (not easy to explain with a language barrier). 2 hours later &after many conversations with the person in charge, we find out that for some reason, Sherri's bag was not on the flight. They dont' know whether it was left in NY or maybe was left in Rome when we had to let the person off for the medical emergency? they weren't sure where it WAS, only where it WASN'T... at this airport.
We then went out through the metal detectors & waited in the area as instructed. We were told 10 min... 50 min later, we asked an airport policeman if we were in the correct place, he directed us to another person to ask, only to find out we'd been waiting in the wrong area for almost an hour. We hustled down to the new place we were instructed to go and thankfully, the driver was there and had waited for us for 45min (\YES, he got a tip!!).
The drive through the city was an eye-opening experience--a lot of open air markets... a lot of people... alot of poverty. Houses & businesses were tin-rooted shantys--- no running water, no electricity, no bathrooms. No trashbins, so refuse littered the streets and behind homes and neighborhoods.
Our hotel room was clean and had flushable bathrooms (no squaty potties, thank you God!) and two little beds, so Sherri and I were able to get enough sleep to feel rested for our journey to resume the next day. The beds were a little bigger than cots and my bedspread had stains on it, but I forced myself not to think about it and just try to get some sleep.
Below is a view outside the window of our hotel room-- what isn't pictured is a huge pile of trash behind this little community. What also isn't pictured is the sound of laughter we could hear from the kids who lived in this neighborhood as they played in the streets. Kids are the same everywhere and have such an ability to live above their circumstances.
We ate lunch and breakfast at the hotel and were very pleasantly surprised by the food. I was so excited to eat the salad and Sherri whispered a word of warning about not knowing how the lettuce was cleaned, so I ended up pushing it around on my plate but not eating the lettuce, only the tomatoes, cukes and hot peppers. The other food consisted of a green bean dish, a potato dish and rice with curried lentils. Yum! No tummy problems with the food! Yay God! For breakfast the next morning, I REALLY enjoyed the Ethiopian coffee! (I agree with Randy Alcorn... there may just be coffee in Heaven!)
Back in the room, we got a call from Mike, the director of the village, saying that Barb (the other mini-missionary staying with us) was on our flight from DC but she made it to the village. We later learned that Ethiopian Air gave our seats away,which wasn't uncommon :(... but that is a story for another day!
We then went out through the metal detectors & waited in the area as instructed. We were told 10 min... 50 min later, we asked an airport policeman if we were in the correct place, he directed us to another person to ask, only to find out we'd been waiting in the wrong area for almost an hour. We hustled down to the new place we were instructed to go and thankfully, the driver was there and had waited for us for 45min (\YES, he got a tip!!).
The drive through the city was an eye-opening experience--a lot of open air markets... a lot of people... alot of poverty. Houses & businesses were tin-rooted shantys--- no running water, no electricity, no bathrooms. No trashbins, so refuse littered the streets and behind homes and neighborhoods.
Our hotel room was clean and had flushable bathrooms (no squaty potties, thank you God!) and two little beds, so Sherri and I were able to get enough sleep to feel rested for our journey to resume the next day. The beds were a little bigger than cots and my bedspread had stains on it, but I forced myself not to think about it and just try to get some sleep.
Below is a view outside the window of our hotel room-- what isn't pictured is a huge pile of trash behind this little community. What also isn't pictured is the sound of laughter we could hear from the kids who lived in this neighborhood as they played in the streets. Kids are the same everywhere and have such an ability to live above their circumstances.
This was another view out our hotel window... frightening! There is new construction in Ethiopia and this is a picture of the scaffolding used in by the workers. This takes fear of heights to a whole new level!
We ate lunch and breakfast at the hotel and were very pleasantly surprised by the food. I was so excited to eat the salad and Sherri whispered a word of warning about not knowing how the lettuce was cleaned, so I ended up pushing it around on my plate but not eating the lettuce, only the tomatoes, cukes and hot peppers. The other food consisted of a green bean dish, a potato dish and rice with curried lentils. Yum! No tummy problems with the food! Yay God! For breakfast the next morning, I REALLY enjoyed the Ethiopian coffee! (I agree with Randy Alcorn... there may just be coffee in Heaven!)
Back in the room, we got a call from Mike, the director of the village, saying that Barb (the other mini-missionary staying with us) was on our flight from DC but she made it to the village. We later learned that Ethiopian Air gave our seats away,which wasn't uncommon :(... but that is a story for another day!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Day 2 Travel
Praise God Sherri & I woke up on our own bc our wake-up call didn't arrive! We woke up early enough to head over to the airport early to try to get our bag sticker situation fixed. The hotel van was packed full bc there was a group carrying a plethora of large rolled duffels, stuffed with clothes etc for orphans in Ethiopia... I think the agency they represented was either Everyday Heroes or Ordinary Heroes. Several young kids--looked like high school or college.
At the airport, a United Agent did all the computer work to change the destination on our bag stickers...so our prayer is that they REALLY get re-stickered!! We called and texted many friends/family for prayer to this effect.
We realized after we walked away from the counter that our seat assignments had changed dramatically. We originally requested a window seat each, one if front of the other, bc they are more conducive to sleeping on the flight. What we were given was side by side seats directly behind the bulkhead (the row for folks traveling with infants and toddlers)... so we made haste to our gate to try to get the situation corrected.
The agent at the gate explained that we could not have seats separated bc we were on the same record locator, so we resigned ourselves to our new seating fate. He also then told Sherri that she would have to check her rolling bag! Now, we saw plenty of folks waiting for the plane with rolling bags that didn't have to check their and only about 10 that checked theirs... what was up with that? Sherri was unprepared to do this so she had transfer necessary things from her rolling bag to her shoulder bag (little did we know the next events or she would transferred even more!).
This flight was tracking on schedule and we were down to the last 4 hours when the PA announcement was made that there was a medical emergency and would have to make an unexpected stop in Rome to let someone off the plane. This pit-stop added 3 hours to the flight.
So, you might be wondering what I did to pass the time on this flight---- I read, chatted with Sherri, watched movies (finally saw Soul Surfer--great show!), prayed & dozed a bit.
I must have been clenching & grinding my teeth bc my sore tooth was getting quite achey, so I made what I was come to realize was a really bad decision. I took one of the pain pills the dentist prescribed, thinking it would take the edge off the toothache, would loosen my jaws so I wouldn't clench and would help put me to sleep. BIG MISTAKE!!! |The pill made me nauseous & I spent the next 6-7hrs suffering strong bouts of nausea. I was unable to eat the breakfast they provided on the flight & de-planed with barf bag in hand.
In the midst of the nausea, we were sent to the wrong counter, told our connecting flight to Rwanda had already left and ushered downstairs in the airport to wait for someone from immigration to help us. So here were were in Ethiopia with no Visa, no cell phone, waiting to understand what we had to do next. Finally the agent brought our passports back to us, had a sheet of paper for each of us showing a hotel reservation, 3 meals & a 3 min international call each, and a temporary Visa. And that is how I got a stamp in my passport for |Ethiopia!
The next entry will be about our unexpected overnight stay in Ethiopia!
At the airport, a United Agent did all the computer work to change the destination on our bag stickers...so our prayer is that they REALLY get re-stickered!! We called and texted many friends/family for prayer to this effect.
We realized after we walked away from the counter that our seat assignments had changed dramatically. We originally requested a window seat each, one if front of the other, bc they are more conducive to sleeping on the flight. What we were given was side by side seats directly behind the bulkhead (the row for folks traveling with infants and toddlers)... so we made haste to our gate to try to get the situation corrected.
The agent at the gate explained that we could not have seats separated bc we were on the same record locator, so we resigned ourselves to our new seating fate. He also then told Sherri that she would have to check her rolling bag! Now, we saw plenty of folks waiting for the plane with rolling bags that didn't have to check their and only about 10 that checked theirs... what was up with that? Sherri was unprepared to do this so she had transfer necessary things from her rolling bag to her shoulder bag (little did we know the next events or she would transferred even more!).
This flight was tracking on schedule and we were down to the last 4 hours when the PA announcement was made that there was a medical emergency and would have to make an unexpected stop in Rome to let someone off the plane. This pit-stop added 3 hours to the flight.
So, you might be wondering what I did to pass the time on this flight---- I read, chatted with Sherri, watched movies (finally saw Soul Surfer--great show!), prayed & dozed a bit.
I must have been clenching & grinding my teeth bc my sore tooth was getting quite achey, so I made what I was come to realize was a really bad decision. I took one of the pain pills the dentist prescribed, thinking it would take the edge off the toothache, would loosen my jaws so I wouldn't clench and would help put me to sleep. BIG MISTAKE!!! |The pill made me nauseous & I spent the next 6-7hrs suffering strong bouts of nausea. I was unable to eat the breakfast they provided on the flight & de-planed with barf bag in hand.
In the midst of the nausea, we were sent to the wrong counter, told our connecting flight to Rwanda had already left and ushered downstairs in the airport to wait for someone from immigration to help us. So here were were in Ethiopia with no Visa, no cell phone, waiting to understand what we had to do next. Finally the agent brought our passports back to us, had a sheet of paper for each of us showing a hotel reservation, 3 meals & a 3 min international call each, and a temporary Visa. And that is how I got a stamp in my passport for |Ethiopia!
The next entry will be about our unexpected overnight stay in Ethiopia!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Day 1 Travel
We got to DC on time & go to the hotel by 11pm ish. The big news event of the day was a "praise" and an "oops". The praise was that the flight attendant allowed usto check our bags all the way thru so that we wouldn't have to claim them in DC & lug them to hotel and back. The "oops" was that the flight attendant didn't sticker our bags & boxes to the final destination but to the stop off in Uganda that was on our route.... so our bags were stickered to come off in Uganda (look up how far away Uganda is from Rwanda)... NOT what we wanted to happen!
Interesting people met so far: Anne from Cincinnati & trying to get there but her flight was cancelled. She was going home from a 2yr teaching assignment & we chatted with her in the 1hr line we stood in for United Customer Service in \chicago airport to discuss getting our bags re-stickered to KGL (Kigali Rwanda) instead of Entebbe Uganda (ETT).
This hour long pursuit was fruitless as the United agent determined it would be better to wait until we came back to the airport in the morning for the DC to Ethiopia flight. So, the "oops" was still unresolved.
On the plane ride from Chigaco to DC, Sherri had the window & I had the aisle & when we got to our seats, there was a large man sitting right in-between us. Sherri and I shared a "look" bc our hope was the seat would be empty or filled with a small person. But, Steve turned out to be a pleasant seatmate & we chatted off and on during the flight. We discovered he was also from AR (Arkadelphia) & was currently living in DC with his wife & 2 small children. He was ex-military & gave me tips on international travel.
From the DC airport, we waited longer than expected (note, this will be a theme in my notes regarding travel to Rwanda) for our ride to the hotel--the Embassey Suites. We got our second surprise of the day as we checked into our hotel & learned not only did we share a room, but a bed also!!! Now, those of you who know me well are giggling to yourselves at this point bc you know this stretched me WAY out of my comfort zone! The sharing the room business in itself was on level of stretching, but the sharing the bed... whew! Thankfully, and as I continue to praise God for, Sherri is a quiet, still sleeper, so we made it through the night and began our trip to Africa well rested.
Interesting people met so far: Anne from Cincinnati & trying to get there but her flight was cancelled. She was going home from a 2yr teaching assignment & we chatted with her in the 1hr line we stood in for United Customer Service in \chicago airport to discuss getting our bags re-stickered to KGL (Kigali Rwanda) instead of Entebbe Uganda (ETT).
This hour long pursuit was fruitless as the United agent determined it would be better to wait until we came back to the airport in the morning for the DC to Ethiopia flight. So, the "oops" was still unresolved.
On the plane ride from Chigaco to DC, Sherri had the window & I had the aisle & when we got to our seats, there was a large man sitting right in-between us. Sherri and I shared a "look" bc our hope was the seat would be empty or filled with a small person. But, Steve turned out to be a pleasant seatmate & we chatted off and on during the flight. We discovered he was also from AR (Arkadelphia) & was currently living in DC with his wife & 2 small children. He was ex-military & gave me tips on international travel.
From the DC airport, we waited longer than expected (note, this will be a theme in my notes regarding travel to Rwanda) for our ride to the hotel--the Embassey Suites. We got our second surprise of the day as we checked into our hotel & learned not only did we share a room, but a bed also!!! Now, those of you who know me well are giggling to yourselves at this point bc you know this stretched me WAY out of my comfort zone! The sharing the room business in itself was on level of stretching, but the sharing the bed... whew! Thankfully, and as I continue to praise God for, Sherri is a quiet, still sleeper, so we made it through the night and began our trip to Africa well rested.
Departure Day!
Sherri and Burt will be here soon to pick me up!
When I weighed my bag this morning, it was over 50lbs, so I had to move some things into my other carry on bags. So many details!
God, you are the God of the details, please don't let me forget anything important!
God, please keep us safe in your arms. Help us serve you well.
Amen
When I weighed my bag this morning, it was over 50lbs, so I had to move some things into my other carry on bags. So many details!
God, you are the God of the details, please don't let me forget anything important!
God, please keep us safe in your arms. Help us serve you well.
Amen
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